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HIS   GRAND    MOTIVE 


A  JUST  LIBERTY  TO  ALL  MEN'S  SPIRITS 
IN  SPIRITUAL  MATTERS  " 

Roger  Williams  on  Dr.  John  Clarke 


STORY    OF    DR.    JOHN   CLARKE 

THE  FOUNDER  OF 

THE   FIRST  FREE   COMMONWEALTH 
OF   THE   WORLD 

ON  THE  BASIS  OF 

""  Full  Liberty  in  Religious  Concernments  " 

BY 

Thomas    W.    Bicknell,    A.M.,    LL.D. 

Author  of  "Historical  Sketches";  "History  of  Barrington,  R.  I."; 

"History  of  the   Rhode   Island  Normal  School";   "History  and 

Genealogy  of  the  BickneU   Family  in  England  and  America"; 

"Sowams";  etc.,  etc. 


FIRST  EDITION 


Published   by   the   Author 
PROVIDENCE,  R.  I. 


COPYRIGHT 

THOMAS  W.  BICKNELL 

1915 


DR.   JOHN   CLARKE 

Scholar  Author 

Physician 

Minister  of  the  Gospel 

Leader  in  Banishment 

Co-Founder  of  Towns  on  Aqnidneck 

Co-Founder  of  Rhode  Island  Colony 

Diplomat  at  home  and  in  England 

Stateman 
Author  of  Royal  Charter  of  1663 

1609—1676 


PREFACE. 


The  Honorable  Le  Baron  Bradford  Colt,  a  Senator 
from  the  State  of  Rhode  Island  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States  declared,  "The  Rhode  Island  doctrine 
of  religious  freedom  stands  as  the  first  amendment 
to  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  is  incorporated  into 
the  organic  law  of  every  American  state.  This  is 
the  immortal  principle  which  Rhode  Island  has  added 
to  the  structure  of  our  government, — to  the  making 
of  America."  It  is  my  purpose  to  show,  when,  where 
and  by  whom  "the  Lively  Experiment"  of  a  Free 
Commonwealth,  on  the  basis  of  soul-liberty,  was  first 
successfully  and  permanently  made.  I  shall  attempt 
to  prove  by  the  most  conclusive  evidence,  that,  at 
Portsmouth  (Pocasset)  in  1638,  and  at  Newport  in 
1639,  William  Coddington,  John  Clarke  and  their 
associates  established  a  well  organized  "Bodie  Poli- 
ticke'  on  the  broad  foundations  of  "DBMOCRACIE" 
and  that  in  1640,  by  the  political  union  of  the  two 
towns,  a  colony  was  set  up,  styled  the  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island,  on  the  island  of  Aquidneck,  which  in  its  de- 
clared principles  and  in  its  vital  character,  illustrated 
and  enforced,  in  due  magisterial  form  and  procedure, 
for  the  first  time  in  the  world's  history,  the  full,  clear, 
comprehensive  Doctrine  of  Civil  and  Religious  Lib- 
erty in  the  conduct  of  a  Free  Commonwealth. 


Yet  more  clearly  will  the  great  concerns  of  these 
English  planters  be  made  manifest  to  the  world,  when 
it  will  appear  that  Dr.  John  Clarke,  the  leader  of  the 
Aquidneck  Plantation,  procured,  by  wise  diplomacy, 
from  King  Charles  the  Second,  in  July,  1663,  the  most 
"^  liberal  charter  ever  given  to  men,  securing  to  Rhode 
Island  and  Providence  Plantations  full  liberty  in 
civil  and  religious  concernments. 

Yet  more,  the  highest  honor  belongs  to  Dr.  John 
Clarke,  the  author  and  inspirer  of  the  Royal  Charter, 
whose  mind  dictated  and  whose  pen  wrote  the  im- 
perishable sentiment,  "That  it  is  much  on  their 

HEARTS  (if  they  may  BE  PERMITTED)  TO  HOLD  FORTH 
A  LIVELY  EXPERIMENT,  THAT  A  MOST  FLOURISHING 
CIVIL  STATE  MAY  STAND  AND  BEST  BE  MAINTAINED, 
AND  THAT  AMONG  OUR  ENGLISH  SUBJECTS,  WITH  A 
FULL  LIBERTY  IN  RELIGIOUS  CONCERNMENTS." 

These  words,  cut  in  enduring  marble  on  the  west 
facade  of  our  beautiful  Capitol  at  Providence,  con- 
stitute it  a  living  monument  to  perpetuate  the  spotless 
name  and  the  matchless  fame  of  Dr.  John  Clarke  of 
Aquidneck. 

To  the  Grand  Jury  of  the  World,  I  submit  the  evi- 
dence of  historic  facts. 

Thomas  W.  BicknEll. 
Providence,  R.  I. 

Sept.  6,  1915. 


The    Story   of  Dr.    John   Clarke 
of   Aquidneck 


CONTENTS. 

Page. 
Chapter  I.     Rhode    Island,    The    Birth- 

place of  Soul  Liberty  ....        9-14 

Chapter        II.     The  Puritan  in  the  Making      14-26 

Chapter      III.     Religious    Liberty  —  C  o  n  - 

science  Liberty 26-33 

Chapter  IV.  Boston,  The  Preparatory 
School  of  a  Free  Common- 
wealth in  Rhode  Island  .  .      33-54 

Chapter  V.  Anne  Hutchinson's  School 
of  Civil  and  Religious  Lib- 
erty     ; 54-73 

Chapter      VI.     Dr.  John  Clarke  from  1609- 

1651 73-87 

Chapter  VII.  The  Founding  of  Ports- 
mouth        87-101 

Chapter  VIII.     A  Democratic  State  in  the 

Making   101-122 

Chapter      IX.     The  Founding  of  Newport  .  122-133 


Chapter  X.  The  Founding  of  the  Colony 
of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquid- 
neck  133-140 

Chapter      XL     Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck, 

A  Commonwealth   140-158 

Chapter    XII.     Concerning  Roger  Williams 

and  Providence   158-182 

Chapter  XIII.  The  Royal  Charter,  The 
Final  Guaranty  of  Civil 
and  Religious  Freedom  in 
America    182-199 

Chapter  XIV.     Concerning  Dr.  John  Clarke 

of  Aquidneck 199-210 

Letter  of  Moses  Brown 210-212 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


1.  Rhode  Island  Capitol  at  Provi- 

dence, R.  I Facing  Title  Page 

2.  Sir  Harry  Vane Facing  Page    61 

3.  Aquidneck 

4.  The  Portsmouth  Compact  . . . 

5.  Henry  Bull  House 

6.  Gov.      William      Codding^on 

House,  Newport   

7.  Gov.  William  Coddington,  Jr. 

8.  Petition  of  Robert  Scott  et  al. 

9.  Grave   of    Dr.    John    Clarke, 

Newport 

10.     Thomas  W.  Bicknell 


87 

96 

117 

122 

153 

162 

199 

210 

The  Birthpi^ace  of  Soul  Liberty. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Rhode  Island. 

The  Birthplace  of  Soul  Liberty. 

Rhode  Island  is  the  name  of  one  of  the  United 
States,  the  smallest  in  area,  the  greatest  in  historic 
fame.  Its  former  legal  title  was  The  State  of 
Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations, — the 
names  of  the  two  Colonies  that  united  to  form  the 
Federal  State. 

^  The  parpe  Rhode  Island,  or  Isle  of  Rhodes  was 
first  applied  in  1644  to  the  Island,  called  by  the  Nar- 
ragansett  Indians,  Aquidneck.  Its  earliest  political 
value  was  the  Colonial  name  of  the  two  towns,  Ports- 
mouth and  Newport,  in  distinction  from  the  Colony 
of  Providence  Plantations,  at  the  head  of  the  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay.  In  this  discussion,  the  name  Rhode 
Island  will  be  restricted  to  its  early  Colonial  appli- 
cation as  adopted  by  the  General  Court  of  Election 
of  the  two  towns  on  the  13th  of  March,  1644. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  show  that  the  two  towns,  Ports- 
mouth and  Newport,  occupying  at  that  time  the  whole 
territory  of  the  Island  of  Rhode  Island  and  consti- 
tuting the  original  Colony  of  Rhode  Island,  are  en- 
titled to  the  honor  and  distinction  of  Primacy  in  the 
establishment  of  a  pure  Democracy,  coupled  with 
Soul  Freedom  in  a  well  ordered  Civil  IMagistracy. 


10  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

The  physical  area  of  this  Commonwealth  of  high 
ideals  was  probably  the  smallest  of  the  historic  states 
of  the  world,  its  extreme  length  not  exceeding  sixteen 
miles  and  its  breadth  not  over  five  miles.  Its  loca- 
tion on  the  Atlantic  Coast  line  and  its  extensive  land- 
locked harbor,  gave  its  early  planters  an  advantage  in 
primitive  commerce  and  fisheries  which  proved  of 
great  economic  value.  This  Island,  it  may  be  noted, 
was  first  seen  through  European  discovery,  by  John 
Verrazzano,  who,  skirting  the  New  England  Coast, 
in  1524,  entered  and  explored  the  lower  Narragansett 
Bay,  calling  the  harbor  and  Island  Refugio. 

At  the  settlement  of  the  English  Colonies  in  Massa- 
chusetts in  1620  and  later,  the  lands  within  and  ad- 
jacent to  the  Bay  were  styled  the  Narragansett 
Country.  Those  on  the  East  and  Northeast  were 
occupied  by  the  Wampanoag  Indians,  whose  chief 
sachem,  Massassoit,  had  his  residence  at  Sowams, 
now  Barrington,  R.  I.  The  islands  in  the  Bay,  in- 
cluding Aquidneck,  and  the  lands  on  the  West  and 
Northwest  of  the  Bay  were  occupied  and  owned  by 
the  Narragansetts,  under  the  chiefs  Canonicus  and 
Miantonomi. 

fit  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  most  notable  "livelie 
experiment"  in  the  practical  application  of  the  doc- 
trines of  civil  and  religious  liberty  in  America  or 
even  in  the  world,  should  have  been  made  in  Rhode 
Island, — the  smallest  political  unit  on  the  Western 


The  Birthplace  of  Soul  Liberty.  11 

Hemisphere.  Its  microscopic  size  and  great  water 
area,  as  compared  with  the  land,  would  seem  to  pre- 
clude the  possibility  of  applying  great  principles  of 
government  and  public  policy  to  a  sufficiently  large 
body  of  people  to  secure  a  constituency  large  enough 
or  discrete  enough  to  try  out  any  great  question  to 
any  wise  or  ultimate  conclusions.  There  were,  how- 
ever, in  the  case  of  the  early  history  of  this  little 
Colony,  some  peculiar  facts  that  seem  to  upset  any 
preconceived  theory  as  to  population  or  physical  area.  I 

The  first  fact  is  a  physical  one  and  has  a  large 
value  in  favor  of  littleness.  It  is  this, — Narragansett 
Bay  and  its  tributaries  trisect  the  area,  separating  the 
original  settlements  one  from  the  other,  thereby  giv- 
ing to  each  an  opportunity,  as  an  independent  entity, 
to  work  out  its  own  problems  in  its  own  individual 
way.  Portsmouth  and  Newport  were  isxilaied  on  the 
Island  of  Aquidneck,  twenty  miles  from  Providence 
and  fifteen  from  Warwick,  the  fourth  of  the  Colonial 
towns.  When  long  journeys  in  boats,  on  rough 
waters,  propelled  by  the  manual  of  arms,  are  the  only 
means  of  communication,  men  and  women  are  liable 
to  stay  at  home  and  in  a  wilderness  country  do  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  thinking  on  their  new  life,  its 
conditions  and  how  to  make  them  more  tolerable. 

Another  fact  appears  in  the  personnel  of  the 
founders  of  the  four  Rhode  Island  towns.  It  is  this 
— a  great  -vaxiety  of  types  oljnen  appear  in  these 


12  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

early  settlements.  Some  Were  mere  adventurers, 
joining  a  migration  with  little  of  superior  motives  or 
large  expectancy.  Some  were  land  hungry  and  saw 
in  the  Narragansett  Country  abundant  areas  for  each 
house  holder,  like  the  landed  estates  of  Old  England. 
Some  were  ambitious  to  make  homes  for  permanent 
family  life.  Some  sought  freedom  from  civil  re- 
straint,— some  an  asylum  for  larger  freedom  than 
was  granted  in  Fatherland  and  a  sweeter  expression 
of  it  than  was  exercised  in  Puritan  Boston  or  even 
in  Pilgrim  Plymouth. 

Our  definition  of  a  state  is  a  political  community, 
organized  under  a  distinct  government,  recognized 
and  conformed  to  by  the  people  as  supreme.  It  is 
essential  to  a  state  that  there  be  some  sort  of  civil 
government  accepted  as  valid  by  its  members,  who 
live  in  a  common  region  or  locality.  Growing  out 
of  the  family  it  has  a  natural  basis  in  man's  social 
nature  and  relations,  and  develops  a  form  decided  by 
its  constituency,  and  a  legal  basis  and  standard  of 
ultimate  appeal,  in  essential  rights  and  justice. 

The  ideas  of  the  men  of  the  first  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  born  of  English,  French  or  German 
stock,  were  no  less  broad  and  substantial.  Plymouth, 
Massachusetts  Bay  and  Connecticut  Colonies  were 
founded  on  these  essential  foundations,  guaranteed 
by  Royal  Charters.  The  civil  state  was  composed 
of  a  body  of  men  and  women,  in  general  agreement 
in  matters  of  faith  and  polity,  with  an  intelligent 


The  Birthplace  of  Soul  Liberty.  13 

understanding  of  the  relations  of  the  individual  to 
civil  society.  / 

This  community  of  persons  adopts  a  charter,  com- 
pact, or  constitution,  embracing  the  basic  principles 
of  the  inchoate  state,  with  conditions  and  limitations 
as  to  freemanship  and  citizenship,  thereby  establish- 
ing an  official  organization, — the  state, — with  all  the 
functions  and  officials  necessary  for  the  institution 
of  orderly  government.  This  compact  also  defines 
the  quality  of  the  government, — be  it  Monarchy  or 
Democracy, — and  the  various  needs  of  local  govern- 
ment, that  conditions  may  require.  It  is  of  the  utmost 
consequence  that  rules  and  laws  be  established  for 
protecting  the  right  of  life,  liberty,  property  and  repu- 
tation, and  the  immediate  choice  and  installation  of 
competent  officials  to  attend  to  the  execution  of  the 
laws,  adopted  by  the  body  politic: 

These  are  some  of  the  fundamental  ideas  of  a 
state, — the  germs  of  a  commonwealth, — of  the  c 
American  type.  In  our  body  politic  of  Rhode  Island  "^n. 
we  are  to  assume  the  founding  of  a  Democratic  state, 
with  absolute  freedom  of  opinion  and  action  in  re- 
ligious concerns.  In  our  study  of  the  state  founded 
by  Dr.  John  Clarke  and  his  associates  we  shall  find 
all  the  constituents  above  enumerated,  incorporated 
into  the  institutions,  laws,  civil  polity  and  adminis- 
trative operations  of  the  towns  and  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island,  on  Aquidneck,  years  in  advance  of  any  other 
body  politic  in  the  world. 


14  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Puritan  in  the  Making. 

Liberty  is  a  very  old  word.  It  is  found  in  all 
languages,  but  with  different  local  meanings.  Thomas 
Jefferson  framed  the  sentiment  in  our  Declaration  of 
Independence,  that  all  men  "are  endowed  by  their 
Creator  zvith  certain  inalienable  rights;  that  among 
these  are  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness." 
The  free  exercise  of  the  right  of  liberty  has  been 
greatly  abridged  in  the  life  of  the  human  race,  as 
history  records  it,  and,  in  multitudes  of  instances, 
both  life  and  liberty  have  been  ruthlessly  trampled 
under  foot  and  destroyed.  The  weak  have  been  made 
the  bond-servants  of  the  strong,  and  body,  mind  and 
spirit  have  been  enslaved  to  satisfy  one  or  another  of 
the  ambitions  or  passions  of  the  masterful  classes 
among  men.  The  story  of  "Man's  inhumanity  to 
man"  is  the  burden  of  History.  The  shackles  that 
have  fettered  the  limbs  have  been  oppressive  and 
galling,  but  have  never  been  so  degrading  and  humil- 
iating as  those  which  have  bound  the  larger  freedom 
of  speech  and  of  worship. 

The  processes,  by  which  people  of  various  tongues 
have  obtained  larger  and  ever-increasing  measures  of 
liberty,    constitute    the    warp    and    woof    of    His- 


The  Puritan  in  the  Making.  15 

tory.  The  struggle  for  body  and  soul-freedom  has 
been  ages  long, — at  one  point  and  period  successful, 
at  others  going  down  in  defeat,  but  all  the  while  the 
spirit  of  liberty  has  never  been  vanquished. 

"For  Freedom's  battle,  once  begun, 
V      Bequeathed  by  bleeding  sire  to  son. 
Though  baffled  oft,  is  ever  won." 

It  is  not  the  motive  of  the  author  nor  the  purpose 
of  this  Story  to  do  more  than  give  a  single  chapter 
of  this  world  contest, — the  culmination,  in  the  later 
stages  of  the  Evolution  of  Civilization,  of  two  great 
manifestations  of  liberty.  Civil  and  Religious,  and 
their  union  in  a  modern  Democratic  state.  Here 
and  there  among  men,  had  each  of  the  principles 
found  expression  and  partial  illustration — the  result 
of  vision  by  men  and  social  orders.  Prior  to  the 
English  Revolution  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  how- 
ever, nowhere  on  the  face  of  the  earth  and  among 
civilized  men,  did  civil  and  soul-liberty  jointly  exist. 
It's  first  clear,  full,  deliberate,  organized  and  per- 
manent establishment  in  the  world  can  now  be  dis- 
tinctly traced  to  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island,  on  the 
island  of  Aquidneck,  in  Narragansett  Bay,  under  the 
leadership  and  inspiration  of  Dr.  John  Clarke,  the 
\  true  Founder. 

In  the  evolution  of  modern  Democracy,  including 
soul-liberty,  the  three  great  nations  of  Western 
Europe, — Germany,     France    and     England, — have 


\ 


16  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

been  the  chief  actors, — Germany  in  the  earlier  stages, 
England  in  the  later  and  France  in  both.  Hour 
ejc^its  have  signally  advanced  its  progress.  The 
first,  and  probably  the  most  significant  and  far- 
reaching,  was  the  first  complete  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  the  EngUsh  tongue,  from  the  Vulgate,  by 
Wyclif,  about  1382.  It  is  impossible,  in  our  day,  to 
appreciate  the  ardent  reception  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  Scriptures  by  the  Western  mind  and  heart. 
Hebrew  history  and  theology  were  incorporated 
bodily  into  English  thought  and  speech  and,  in  the 
Puritan  Period,  Hebrew  nomenclature  was  almost 
universally  adopted,  thus  restoring  patriarchal  rela- 
tions and  associations  in  family  life.  English  liter- 
ature was  enriched  by  the  stories  of  the  Hebrew  Cap- 
tivity and  Mosaic  Deliverance.  The  Drama  recited 
the  heroic  scenes  of  the  Pentateuch,  and  Psalmody 
versified,  in  stumbling  meter,  the  songs  of  Miriam, 
Deborah  and  Ruth  and  the  Psalms  of  David. 

The  Hebrew  Republic,  under  Moses  as  it's  great 
lawgiver,  was  a  type  for  a  modern  state,  while  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  and  Paul  taught  the  brotherhood 
of  men,  the  fatherhood  of  God,  and  the  standardiza- 
tion of  human  society  on  the  basis  of  equality  and 
fraternity, — the  corner  stones  of  Democracy.  The 
Bible  was  the  first  and  greatest  guide  the  Western 
mind  had  ever  had  to  lead  it  into  the  path  of  Liberty, 
with  Jesus  as  its  teacher. 


The  Puritan  in  the  Making.  17 

The  second  great  event,  in  order  of  time,  was  the 
/invention  of  the  printing  press,  in  Germany,  about 
1440.  Through  its  agency  in  multiplying  books, — 
especially  the  Bible, — the  W^estern  world  began  to 
learn  to  read,  in  order  that  it  might,  for  itself,  under- 
stand the  lively  oracles  of  God.  Bibles  and  religious 
books  soon  became  cheap  enough  to  be  the  property 
of  every  family.  The  hungry  fed  on  the  Bread  of 
Life.     The  thirsty  drank  from  its  fountains. 

'n'  Martin  Luther  (1483-1546)  was  one  of  the  mighty 
forces  that  reconstructed  church  and  state  in  Ger- 
many and  England,  and  more  than  that,  as  a  bold 
advocate  of  reforms,  temporal  and  spiritual,  he  set 
y  an  example  of  independent  thinking  and  utterance 
\  most  salutary  for  his  time.  The  century,  from  1450 
to  1550,  was  remarkable  in  a  great  awakening  of 
German  and  Anglo-Saxon  to  ethical  and  spiritual 
truth,  and  in  the  opening  of  the  human  mind  to  free- 
dom of  thought  and  expression.  It  was  the  century 
of  Discovery.  Columbus  gave  Spain  the  sceptre  of 
Western  domain.  Cabot  enlarged  the  bounds  of 
the  New  World  on  both  Northern  and  Southern  hori- 
zons, while  Verazzano,  an  Italian,  sailing  under  the 
French  flag,  explored  the  Northern  Atlantic  Coasts 
and  penetrated  the  recesses  of  New  York  and  Nar- 
ragansett  Bays. 

While  these  European  navigators  were  opening 
the  doors  of  a  New  World,  in  the  West,  Copernicus, 


18  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

of  German  birth,  the  navigator  of  the  Heavens,  dis- 
covered and  announced  to  the  world  the  laws  of 
planetary  and  stellar  motion, — a  new  Heavens, — the 
correlate  of  the  new  Earth  of  Columbus  and  Amer- 
icus  Vespucius. 

With  the  fall  of  Constantinople,  in  1453,  Greek 
scholars  fled  to  the  West.  A  revival  in  letters,  art 
and  philosophy  sprang  up  in  Italy,  France,  England 
and  Germany.  South  of  the  Alps,  art  flourished  in 
the  works  of  Michael  Angelo,  Titian,  Correggio,  Da 
Vinci  and  Raphael.  North  of  the  Alps,  science, 
philosophy,  social  order,  free  institutions,  law  and 
religion  gave  character  to  the  "New  Learning."  The 
age  brought  forth  Sir  Thomas  More,  Colet,  Calvin, 
Knox,  Melancthon,  Zwingli  and  Sebastian  Cas- 
tellio,  1515-1563, — the  first  great  champion  of  a  "free 
conscience,"  and  of  "Toleration  in  Religious  Belief." 

The  "New  Learning"  of  the  schools  and  univer- 
sities of  England  was  passionately  seized  by  the 
English  mind.  Students  flocked  to  the  seats  of 
learning  at  Oxford,  Cambridge  and  London,  or,  in 
humbler  ways,  found  in  the  new  literature  of  the 
day,  satisfaction  and  delight  in  the  revelations  of 
ancient  Greek  or  Latin  philosophy,  law,  religion  and 
government.  The  last  two  subjects  especially  oc- 
cupied the  thoughts  of  men,  inasmuch  as  absolutism 
on  the  part  of  royalty  had  stirred  the  people  into  a 
conscious  revolt  against  arbitrary  and  vicious  acts  in 


The  Puritan  in  the  Making.  19 

government,  and  the  teachings  of  the  Scriptures  had 
liberated  the  minds  of  the  people  from  the  ignorance 
and  superstitions  of  the  established  church. 

In  this  age  of  "Wonderful  Awakening"  the  Puritan 
was  born.  This  new  man  was  both  Catholic  and 
Protestant.  As  a  Catholic,  he  accepted  the  great 
doctrines  of  the  church  as  taught  by  the  Fathers.  His 
faith  in  God  was  complete.  His  belief  in  Justifica- 
tion, in  Sanctification  and  in  the  mediatorial  Sacri- 
fice could  not  be  challenged.  As  a  Protestant,  he 
conceived  the  individual  freedom  of  worship  and 
the  rights  of  the  governed  in  the  affairs  of  state. 
Magna  Charter  had  a  new  meaning,  in  the  light  of 
the  teachings  of  Jesus.  The  freeman  and  the  free 
state  became  mental  possibilities  in  the  sixteenth 
century  of  English  history.  It  was  in  this  period 
of  mental,  spiritual  and  political  agitation,  the  last 
half  of  this  sixteenth  century. — that  brilliant  epoch 
of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,— that  the  American 
Democracy  also  was  born.  This  remarkable  activity 
was  both  destructive  and  constructive.  It  destroyed 
absolutism  in  Church  and  State.  It  constructed  a 
fabric  of  popular  government,  in  which  every  man 
was  both  sovereign  and  subject  in  matters  temporal 
and  spiritual.  The  absolute  freedom  of  the  English 
subject  in  religious  concernments  was  then  set  as  the 
corner  stone  of  a  new  political  and  spiritual  edifice. 


/ 


20  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

The  Rev.  Robert  Browne,  founder  of  the  Brown- 
ists,  now  the  Congregationalists,  (1584),  thus  defined 
the  relationship  of  the  church  and  state.  "They  (the 
magistrates)  may  doe  nothing  concerning  the  church, 
but  onlie  ciuill,  and  as  ciuill  magistrates ;  that  is,  they 
haue  not  that  authoritie  ouer  the  church  as  to  be 
prophetes  or  priestes,  or  spirituall  kings,  as  they  are 
magistrates  ouer  the  same;  but  onlie  to  rule  the  com- 
mon wealth  in  all  outward  justice,  to  maintaine  the 
right  welfare  and  honor  thereof  with  outward  power, 
bodily  punishment  and  ciuill  forcing  of  men."  This 
is  a  clear,  bold  utterance  of  a  free  conscience  of  a 
free  church  in  a  sovereign  state.  Again  he  writes: 
"Goe  to,  therefore,  and  the  outward  power  and  ciuill 
forcings  let  us  leaue  to  the  magistrates:  to  rule  the 
common  wealth  in  all  outwarde  justice,  belongeth  to 
them:  but  let  the  church  rule  in  spiritual  wise,  and 
not  in  wordlie  manner:  by  a  liuelie  lawe  preached, 
and  not  by  a  ciuill  law  written."  "For  it  is  the  con- 
science and  not  the  power  of  man  that  will  driue  us 
to  seeke  the  Lordes  Kingdom."  It  is  very  obvious 
that  Robert  Browne  taught  the  independence  of 
church  and  state  and  in  that  doctrine  taught  also 
full  liberty  of  the  individual  conscience  in  religion. 
This  doctrine  was  also  taught  in  a  "Plea  for  Liberty 
of  Conscience"  by  Leonard  Busher,  1614,  and  by 
John  Murton  in  his  two  treatises  against  "Persecu- 
tion for  Religion  as  Contrary  to  Divine  and  Human 
Testimonies,"  1620. 


The  Puritan  in  the  Making.  21 

Briefly  stated,  the  situation  of  affairs  in  England, 
as  related  to  civil  and  religious  matters  at  the  opening 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  (1603),  was  as  follows: 
The  seventeenth  century  opened  in  the  midst  of  the 
brilliant  literary  and  philosophical  period  of  English 
history,  inaugurated  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  who  had 
still  further  distinguished  herself  by  a  constant 
and  firm  control  over  the  English  church  and 
state.  James  the  First,  ruler  of  England  from 
1603  to  1625,  asserted  the  theory  of  the  divine 
right  of  kingship  and  episcopacy,  in  no  degree  relax- 
ing the  laws  on  the  statute  books  as  to  Puritan  non- 
conformity. In  1607,  a  body  of  liberal  Puritans 
called  Separatists,  emigrated  to  Holland  and,  in  1620, 
constituted  the  Plymouth  Colony,  which  was  char- 
tered by  James  to  establish  a  government  on  the 
shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay, — the  first  of  the  New 
England  colonies  founded  on  Democracy  in  govern- 
ment. 

England  was  divided  politically  into  two  hostile 
camps, — Royalist  and  Puritan.  The  Royalist  was 
loyal  to  the  King  and  the  Church.  He  saw  in  both 
the  safe-guard  of  all  he  held  dear.  He  was  a  re- 
actionist, not  a  statesman.  The  heritage  of  Old 
England  was  to  him  of  greater  value  than  any  pos- 
sible future  could  be.  The  King,  the  Court,  the 
Church,  the  Prelacy  were  sacred  organisms  of  God's 
making.  He  hated  the  words  Freedom,  Democracy, 
Toleration,  as  devices  of  the  Devil,  and  would  perse- 


22  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

cute  and  expel  from  the  Kingdom  as  demons,  all  who 
cherished  them.  He  belonged  to  the  Aristocracy  of 
learning,  wealth,  chivalry,  luxury,  and  the  love  for 
woman.  Religion  was  to  him  a  form,  not  a  sacra- 
ment. Life  had  no  great  ambitions.  Death  had  no 
terrors  for  Cavalier  or  Red  Cross  Knight. 

"The  Puritans,"  says  Macaulay,  "were  the  most 
remarkable  body  of  men,  perhaps,  which  the  world 
has  ever  produced."  Religion  was  their  chief  con- 
cern and  business.  It  was  an  integral  element  of 
their  daily  life.  Political  matters  were  religious 
matters.  The  liberal  Puritan  stood  for  freedom  in 
personal  rights,  freedom  in  civil  concerns,  freedom 
in  faith.  The  Bible  was  his  guide  and  teacher  in 
things  temporal  and  things  spiritual.  Samuel  Gor- 
Q.^^j--^  ton,  one  of  the  founders  of  Warwick,  writing  of  him- 

self, says,  "/  yearned  for  a  country  where  I  could  he 
free  to  worship  God  according  to  zvhat  the  Bible 
taught  me,  as  God  enabled  me  to  understand  it.  I 
left  my  native  country  (England)  to  enjoy  liberty  of 
Conscience  in  respect  to  faith  toward  God  and  for  no 
other  end."  This  "yearning"  was  the  possession  of 
the  body  of  English  Puritans,  not  the  exclusive  ex- 
ercise by  a  few.  The  right  to  worship  God  as  con- 
^  science  dictated  was  a  soul  right,  by  creation, — not 
man-given.  No  royal  edict  proclaimed  it.  No  royal 
edict  could  curtail  it.  The  new  religion  and  the 
teachings  of  the  new  Bible  taught  it.  Jesus  was  its 
great   expounder   in   the   Gospels   and   Paul   in   the 


The  Puritan  in  the  Making.  23 

Epistles.  The  great  body  of  martyrs,  who  suffered 
at  the  stake,  bore  testimony  to  their  love  for  spiritual 
liberty.  Of  great  Englishmen,  standing  in  the  fore 
front  of  the  battle,  in  defence  of  civil  and  soul  free- 
dom, were  John  Hampden,  gentleman.  Sir  Harry 
Vane,  scholar,  Oliver  Cromwell,  soldier  and  states- 
man. These  great  souls  were  types  of  the  great 
historic  life,  in  which  they  were  leaders,  in  the  contest 
for  soul  liberty  on  English  soil.  The  Puritan  age  of 
England  and  America,  the  seventeenth  century,  was 
an  age  of  great  religious  faith,  an  age  of  heroic  in- 
dependences, an  age  of  over-masterful  longing  for 
freedom  of  worship  and  the  severance  of  the  church 
and  secular  governments.  The  individualistic  man 
had  come  to  demand  his  rightful  kingdom  and  king- 
ship. The  crown  was  the  rightful  property  of  the 
real  Koenig, — the  man  of  kingly  character.  The 
tragic  end  of  Charles  the  First  proved  to  the  world 
that  the  king  could  do  wrong  to  his  subjects,  and  that 
the  sacredness  of  the  regal  throne  was  no  cloak  to 
conceal  the  crime  and  no  barrier  to  protect  from  its 
punishment.  The  elevation  of  the  great  commoner, 
Cromwell,  was  added  proof  that  the  men  behind  the 
guns  and  the  ploughs  were  the  real  rulers  of  the  state. 
Out  of  all  that  political,  social,  civil,  religious  unrest 
has  come  stable,  constitutional  government,  a  just 
respect  for  law,  a  material  prosperity  unbounded  and 
an  expanding  civilization  which  dominates  not  only 
the  North  American  continent,  but  wields  a  powerful 
and  a  moulding  influence  in  old-world  governments. 


V 


24  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Of  those   Pilgrims   who  came  to   New   England, 
Mrs.  Hemans  asks, 

"What  sought  they  this  afar? 
Bright  jewels  of  the  mine? 

The  wealth  of  seas? 

The  spoils  of  war  ? 
They  sought  a  faith's  pure  shrine." 

"Aye  call  it  holy  ground 

The  place  where  first  they  trod, 
They  have  left  unstained  what  there  they  found 
Freedom  to  worship  God." 

,y  The  fact  cannot  be  too  strongly  emphasized,  that 
the  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Puritan  body  in  England 
were  the  overturning  of  arbitrary  kingly  authority, 
a  large  measure  of  freedom  for  the  average  man  in 
civil  affairs  and  conscience  liberty  for  all  men.  For 
these  and  their  allied  privileges,  they  stood  as  the  de- 
.^  fenders  in  the  great  struggle  with  Charles  I.  All 
believed  that  a  man's  conscience  as  to  religion  was 
not  subject  to  the  laws  of  the  State,  as  his  conduct 
was.  All  thought  that  a  man  ought  to  be  free  to 
worship  God  as  he  pleased,  provided  he  did  not  in- 
terfere with  the  rights  of  his  neighbors.  All  believed 
in  "a  church  without  a  Bishop,  a  state  without  a 

■^  King."  All  migrated  or  were  banished  "on  account 
of  their  dangerous  and  pernicious  doctrine,"  so  that 
when  they  came  to  dwell  on  the  shores  of  a  New 
World  they  were  all  in  a  true  sense  exiles  for  liberty's 


The  Puritan  in  the  Making.  25 

sake,  standing  on  the  same  platfrom  as  to  civil  and 
religious  matters.  Hume  says,  "The  precious  spark 
of  liberty  was  preserved  by  the  Puritans  alone."  Mac- 
auley  writes  of  them,  "The  Puritans  were  persecuted 
with  cruelty  worthy  of  the  Holy  Office.  They  were 
forced  to  fly  from  the  country.  They  were  im- 
prisoned. They  were  whipped.  Their  ears  were  cut 
off.  Their  noses  were  slit.  Their  cheeks  were 
branded  with  red-hot  iron.  But  the  cruelty  of  the 
oppressor  could  not  tire  out  the  fortitude  of  the  vic- 
tims." *  *  *  "The  hardy  sect  grew  up  and  flourished 
in  spite  of  everything  that  seemed  likely  to  stunt  it, 
struck  its  roots  deep  into  a  barren  soil,  and  spread  its 
branches  wide  to  an  inclement  sky." 

In  this  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke  op  Aquidneck 
we  have  to  deal  with  Puritans  and  Pilgrims, — men 
and  women  of  the  most  profound  and  settled  convic- 
tions and  of  broad  vision,  who  emigrated  from  Old 
England  to  New  England  to  make  homes,  to  found 
a  civil  State  on  the  basis  of  Democracy,  with  absolute 
individual  freedom  in  matters  of  Faith  and  Worship. 


\ 


2^  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


CHAPTER  HI. 
Religious  Liberty — Conscience  Liberty. 

The  terms  Freedom,  Liberty,  Religious  Liberty  or 
Soul  Liberty  and  Liberty  of  Conscience  are  in  fre- 
quent use  by  the  writers  of  the  sixteenth  and  seven- 
teenth centuries.  The  first  two  are  generic  and 
synonymous.  The  others  are  particular,  relating  to 
specific  and  well  defined  areas  of  thought  and  ex- 
perience. Liberty  of  Conscience  is  a  broad  term, 
inclusive  of  all  matters  in  the  domain  of  Ethics.  It 
is  subjective  rather  than  objective.  It  is  a  state,  not 
a  relation.  It  rests  on  the  inalienable  right  of  belief 
or  faith  and  is  another  name  for  convictions  or  the 
moral  sense.  Our  convictions  are  inward  posses- 
sions, and,  if  unexpressed  by  word  or  deed,  are  be- 
yond the  knowledge  of  other  than  the  possessor  and 
beyond  question  by  any.  My  conscience  may  say 
there  is  no  God  and  that  I  am  under  no  obligation  to 
a  Supreme  Being.  It  may  deny  the  immortality  of 
the  Soul  or  the  reward  of  right  action  and  the  punish- 
ment of  wrong  doing.  My  conscience  may  approve 
of  the  liquor  traffic.  It  may  lead  me  to  oppose  or- 
ganized government  and  the  ordinances  of  the  civil 
magistrate.     I  am  at  full  liberty  to  hold  and  cherish 


Religious  Liberty — Conscience  Liberty    27 

any  or  all  of  these  convictions.  If  I  give  no  expres- 
sion to  these  ideas,  I  am  safe  from  criticism  or  re- 
straint. I  may  be  a  thief,  an  adulterer,  a  murderer, 
in  thought,  motive  or  conviction,  but  I  am  not  amen- 
dable to  the  law  unless  I  steal  or  take  the  life  of  a 
fellow.  My  conscience  may  tell  me  that  I  ought  to 
drown  my  child  to  appease  the  Gods  and  save  my  own 
soul,  but  society  cannot  question  my  moral  judgment 
until  I  commit  the  act  or  teach  the  doctrine.  This  is 
liberty  as  to  conscience. 

But  what  will  civil  society  say  today,  if  I  utter  my 
convictions  in  the  ears  of  my  fellow  men?  It  will 
say  this.  If  my  beliefs  as  to  civic  principles  and 
policies  run  counter  to  the  majority  of  the  society 
around  me  and  are  subversive  of  the  civil  organism — 
the  state, — I  am  liable  and  justly  responsible  to  such 
society  for  judgment  on  the  same.  If  the  state  re- 
gards my  opinions  as  subversive  of  its  principles  and 
a  threat  to  its  life,  it  would  be  strangely  delinquent 
in  its  obligations  to  its  founders  and  foundations, 
not  to  restrain  my  acts  and  the  public  expression  of 
my  opinions,  however  honest  and  conscientious  I  may 
be  in  their  expression.  Differences  of  opinion  as  to 
human  conduct,  laws  and  civil  administration,  must 
and  always  will  exist,  but  such  differences  among  men 
are  often  only  differing  viewpoints  that  do  not  reach 
the  domain  of  conscience  per  se,  much  less  the 
narrower  but  higher  realm  in  matters  of  per- 
sonal religion  and  wurship  where  the  religiuub  cuxi- 


28  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

science  holds  sway.  As  between  man  and  man,  in- 
dividual right  of  conscience  or  the  moral  sense  is 
supreme  within  the  bounds  of  reason.  As  between 
man  and  society  and  civil  government  a  limitation 
must  be  made  as  to  authority  and  a  sharp  line  of  dem- 
ocration  drawn  as  to  two  supreme  facts, — the  human 
soul  and  God.  These — the  soul  and  God — live  apart, 
in  a  superior  world,  under  higher  than  human  laws, 
within  the  most  sacred  Holy  of  Holies  of  man's  being. 
In  this  relationship,  absolute  freedom  of  action  and 
of  sentiment  must  exist,  and  over  it  civil  authority 
can  have  no  legitimate  control.  Man  can  say  to  the 
magistrate,  "Hitherto  shalt  thou  come  but  no  far- 
ther." Soul-liberty  and  worship  is  man's  castle, 
which  no  human  being,  no  court  of  justice,  no  magis- 
trate, no  law,  no  civil  state,  no  high  potentate  can 
enter  with  impunity,  without  human  consent.  God, 
the  soul,  worship,  natural  and  revealed  religion,  faith, 
prayer,  all  spiritual  beliefs  as  to  time  and  eternity  are 
the  subject  matter  of  soul-liberty.  This  is  the  realm 
of  Religious  Liberty,  Soul  Liberty,  Spiritual  Liberty. 
JJVith  Madame  Roland  we  cry  out,  "O  Liberty,  Lib- 
[erty,  how  many  crimes  are  committed  in  thy  name !" 
Xiberty  cannot  descend  to  the  realm  of  license  to 
justify  illegal  or  immoral  acts.  The  Decalogue  is 
recognized  as  a  Divine  Instrument.  I  cannot  set  up 
conscience  liberty  in  justification  of  Sabbath-break- 
ing, profanity  or  adultery.  The  State  licenses  the 
sale  of  intoxicants.  I  disbelieve  in  the  policy  and  dis- 
claiiij  pai  Lkipatioii  in  the  legislation,  thereby  keeping 


Religious  Liberty — Conscience  Liberty    29 

a  clean  conscience  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  my  civic 
liberty.  Public  policy  is  state-craft  wherein,  in  a 
Democracy,  the  majority-rule  becomes  the  law  of  all 
the  people  who  accept  its  protection  and  its  provisions. 
The  civic  conscience  may  enter  its  protest  or  ap- 
proval, but  in  no  sense  is  the  doctrine  of  Soul  or  Re- 
ligious Liberty  traversed. 

John  Locke,  (1632-1704)  in  his  "Letters  on  Tol- 
eration," restricts  and  defines  "The  Jurisdiction  of 
the  Magistrate,  excluding  it  from  the  regulation  of 
public  worship  or  the  control  of  religious  beliefs,  ex- 
cept so  far  as  such  worship  or  beliefs  may  interfere 
with  the  ends  of  civil  government."  "The  provinces 
of  a  Church  and  a  Commonwealth  are  distinct  and 
separate  and  easily  well  defined.  The  bounds  are 
absolute."  "As  to  speculative  opinions,  tenets  and 
practices  of  any  religious  community,  the  civil  mag- 
istrate has  no  right  of  restraint."  Locke  declared, 
"No  opinions  contrary  to  human  society,  or  to  those 
moral  rules  which  are  necessary  to  human  society,  are 
to  be  tolerated  by  the  magistrate."  "Religious  or- 
thodox persons,  who  claim  for  themselves  any 
peculiar  privileges  or  power  above  others  in  civil  con- 
cernments, or  who,  upon  any  pretense  of  religion  or 
morality,  challenge  any  manner  of  authority  over 
others  not  of  their  faith,  have  no  right  to  be  tolerated 
by  the  magistrate  as  those  that  will  not  own  and 
teach  the  duty  of  tolerating  all  men  in  matters  of 
mere  religion."     "Those  are  not  to  be  tolerated  who 


30  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

deny  the  being  of  God.  Promises,  covenants  and 
oaths  which  are  the  bonds  of  human  society,  can 
have  no  hold  on  an  atheist.  The  taking  away  of 
God,  though  but  even  in  thought,  dissolves  all." 

The  Lord  Proprietors  of  North  Carolina,  in  1663, 
thus  defined  Religious  Liberty  for  its  citizens:  "We 
will  grant,  in  as  ample  manner  as  undertakers  shall 
desire,  freedom  and  liberty  of  conscience  in  all  re- 
ligious or  spiritual  things  and  to  be  kept  inviolably 
with  them,  we  having  power  in  our  charter  to  do  so." 
This  Declaration  was  modified  by  the  charter  of 
Charles  the  Second,  1665.  "No  person  or  persons 
unto  whom  such  liberty  shall  be  given  (i.  e.  who  can- 
not join  the  Church  of  England)  shall  be  any  way 
molested,  punished,  disquieted,  or  called  in  question, 
for  any  differences  in  opinion,  or  practice  in  matters 
of  religious  concernments,  who  do  not  actually  dis- 
turb the  civil  peace  of  the  province,  county  or  colony 
that  they  shall  make  their  abode  in.  But  all  and 
every  such  person  and  persons  may,  from  time  to 
time,  and  at  all  times,  freely  and  quietly  have  and 
enjoy  his  and  their  judgments  and  consciences,  in 
matters  of  religion,  throughout  all  the  said  province 
or  colony,  they  behaving  themselves  peaceably,  and 
not  using  this  liberty  to  licentiousness,  nor  to  the 
civil  injury  or  outward  disturbance  of  others." 

The  following  limitations  were  declared  in  1669: 
"No  man  can  be  a  freeman  of  Carolina  or  have  an 


Religious  Liberty — Conscience  Liberty    31 

estate  or  habitation  within  it  that  doth  not  acknowl- 
edge a  God;  and  that  God  is  publicly  and  solemnly 
worshipped."  "No  person  whatsoever  shall  speak 
anything  in  their  religious  assembly  irreverently  or 
seditiously  of  the  government,  the  governors,  or  of 
state  matters." 

A  revision  of  the  North  Carolina  constitution  in 
1876  thus  defines  Religious  Liberty:  "All  men  have 
a  natural  and  unalienable  right  to  worship  Almighty 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  conscience 
and  no  human  authority  should,  in  any  case  what- 
soever interfere  with  the  right  of  conscience."  As 
the  Carolinas  were  founded  by  John  Locke  and  his 
Disciples  it  is  of  interest  to  note  the  interpretation 
given  to  Religious  Liberty  by  that  school  of  phi- 
losophy. 

The  Bill  of  Rights  of  Massachusetts,  adopted  in 
1780,  defines  and  limits  Religious  Liberty  as  follows: 

"Art.  L  All  men  are  born  free  and  equal,  and  have 
certain  natural,  essential,  and  unalienable  rights; 
among  which  may  be  reckoned  the  right  of  enjoying 
and  defending  their  lives  and  liberties;  that  of  ac- 
quiring, possessing,  and  protecting  property ;  in  fine, 
that  of  seeking  and  obtaining  their  safety  and  happi- 
ness. 

"Art.  IL  It  is  the  right  as  well  as  the  duty  of  all 
men  in  society,  publicly,  and  at  stated  seasons  to  wor- 
ship the  Supreme  Being,  the  great  Creator  and  Pre- 
server of  the  Universe.     And  no  subject  shall  be 


32  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

hurt,  molested,  or  restrained  in  his  person,  Hberty, 
or  estate,  for  worshipping  God  in  the  manner  and 
season  most  agreeable  to  the  dictates  of  his  own 
conscience:  or  for  his  religious  profession  of  senti- 
ments; provided  he  doth  not  disturb  the  public  peace, 
or  obstruct  others  in  their  religious  worship." 

The  Maryland  Constitution  of  1776  is  quite  in 
keeping  with  the  statutes  of  other  states. 

"Art.  36.  That  as  it  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to 
worship  God  in  such  manner  as  he  thinks  most 
acceptable  to  Him,  all  persons  are  equally  entitled  to 
protection  in  their  religious  liberty:  wherefore  no 
person  ought,  by  any  law  to  be  molested  in  his  person 
or  estate,  on  account  of  his  religious  persuasion  or 
profession,  or  for  his  religious  practice,  unless,  under 
the  color  of  religion,  he  shall  disturb  the  good  order, 
peace  or  safety  of  the  state,  or  shall  infringe  the 
laws  of  morality,  or  injure  others  in  their  natural, 
civil  or  religious  rights." 

A  careful  study  of  these  constitutional  provisions 
as  to  Religious  Liberty  shows  that  full  protection  is 
assured  to  the  citizenship  in  matters  of  religious  faith 
and  worship,  with  the  proviso  that  no  person  can, 
"under  the  color  of  religion,"  or  right  of  Conscience, 
"disturb  the  good  order,  peace  or  safety  of  the  State," 
or  "injure  others  in  their  natural,  civil  or  religious 
rights."  By  these  fixed  standards  we  may  measure 
the  claims  of  those  who  may  worthily  and  rightfully 
wear  the  honor  of  Founders  of  Religious  Liberty. 


Boston,  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.      33 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Boston,  the  Preparatory  School  of  a  Free 
Commonwealth  in  Rhode  Island. 

The  Colonization  of  North  America,  in  the  seven- 
teenth century,  found  its  source  and  inspiration  in 
the  love  of  and  the  demand  for  a  larger  measure  of 
civil  and  religious  freedom  than  was  then  possessed 
by  the  English  people.  Personal  liberty  was  a  strong 
passion  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  and  mind.  The 
great  middle  class  of  British  subjects  had  absorbed 
the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation  and  their  minds  had 
become  thoroughly  saturated  with  the  teachings  and 
idealism  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament  Scriptures, 
including  the  Apocrypha.  With  the  introduction  of 
the  Bible,  the  homes  of  the  common  English  people 
became  a  school  of  religious  and  of  theologic  discus- 
sion. The  history  and  doctrines  of  the  Bible  were 
matters  of  daily  converse  at  the  fireside,  on  the  street, 
in  the  market  places  and  in  politics.  The  children 
were  baptized  into  Hebrew  names.  Large  portions 
of  the  Bible  were  committed  to  memory.  Moses, 
David,  Isaiah,  Jesus  and  Paul  were  familiar  char- 
acters of  daily  study.     The  Bible  was  not  only  ac- 


34  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

cepted  as  a  guide  in  personal  religion  and  human 
rights,  but  as  a  great  text  book  of  literature,  often 
the  only  book  in  the  family.  Its  leading  stories  were 
dramatized  and  made  real  and  popular  to  the  mind 
and  heart. 

It  is  no  wonder  then  that  civil  freedom  became  the 
waking  dream  of  common  English  folks  and  that 
freedom  in  thought  and  worship,  as  revealed  in  the 
New  Testament,  should  become  the  earnest  desire  of 
a    people,   newly-born    into   the   life   of   the    Spirit. 

y  Democracy  was  now  esteemed  a  divine  right  of  the 
Commons,  as  Monarchy  had  been  and  was  then  re- 
garded by  the  Aristocracy  as  the  divine  right  of  the 
King.  The  right  of  the  people  to  choose  their  own 
rulers  and  make  their  own  laws  was  only  a  harking 
back  to  the  days  before  the  Witenagemot  when  man- 
hood was  sovereignty.  These  Britons  did  not  need 
to  study  the  Democracy  of  the  Greek  Agora  and  of 
the  Roman  Forum,  for  their  own  fathers  had  prac- 
tised in  that  school  in  the  forests  of  Germany  and  on 
the  shores  of  the  North  Sea.  As  to  soul-liberty,  the 
most  sacred  and  inalienable  of  human  rights,  every 
sword  of  persecution  drawn  and  every  fagot  lighted 
at  the  stake  was  the  harsh  protest  of  tyranny  against 

^  the  essential  truth  that  the  soul  of  man  must  ever  be 
free  to  choose,  love  and  worship. 

John  Fiske  says  of  the  Puritans:  "Their  principal 
reason  for  coming  to  New  England  was  their  dis- 


Boston,  The  Schooi,  of  Rhode  Island.      35 

satisfaction  with  the  way  in  which  affairs  were 
managed  in  the  old  countr}'.  They  wished  to  bring 
about  a  reform  in  the  church,  in  such  wise  that  the 
members  of  a  congregation  should  have  more  voice 
than  formerly  in  the  church  government  and  that  the 
minister  of  each  congregation  should  be  more  inde- 
pendent than  formerly  of  the  bishop  and  civil  govern- 
ment. *  *  *  Finding  the  resistance  to  their  reforms 
quite  formidable  in  England,  and  having  some  reason 
to  fear  that  they  might  be  themselves  crushed  in  the 
struggle,  they  crossed  the  ocean  in  order  to  carry  out 
their  ideas  in  a  new  and  remote  country,  where  they 
might  be  comparatively  secure  from  interference." 
Another  soul-compelling  motive  in  the  Colonization 
of  New  England  was  the  spread  of  the  Gospel  and  / 
the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  In  "The  Conclusions 
for  Nezv  England,"  as  prepared  by  Mr.  John  Win- 
throp.  in  1629,  is  the  following  consideration:  "3.  It 
is  the  revealed  will  of  God  that  the  Gospel  should  be 
preached  to  all  nations  and  though  we  know  not 
whether  these  barbarians  (the  Indian  tribes)  will 
receive  it  at  first  or  noe,  yet  it  is  a  good  worke  to  serve 
God's  providences  in  offering  it  to  them."  It  is  clear 
that  the  whole  body  of  the  early  Pilgrims  was  moved, 
first  and  foremost  by  a  deep  religious  sentiment, 
thereby  constituting  the  whole  body  of  emigrants  a 
missionary  migration  for  saving  the  Indian  Races 
through  Christ  for  Christianity. 


36  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

The  English  men  and  women  who  first  made  homes 
on  Narragansett  Bay  came  through  the  Massachu- 
setts Bay  Colony,  and  made  their  first  acquaintance 
with  New  England,  in  and  around  Salem  and  Boston, 
subsequent  to  Sept.,  1628.  A  few  were  men  of  some 
property.  IMost  were  from  the  yeoman  class,  able  to 
read  and  write.  All  claimed  to  be  Puritans  of  vary- 
ing degrees,  from  Brownists  to  professed  adherents 
of  the  "dear  mother-Church  of  England,  even  ac- 
knowledging that  such  hope  and  part  as  we  have 
obtained  in  the  common  salvation  we  have  received 
in  her  bosom  and  sucked  it  from  her  breasts." 

Among  those  who  were  the  leaders  and  the  most 
influential  in  determining  the  character  of  the  groups 
of  settlements  on  Narragansett  Bay  and  in  directing 
their  civil  and  religious  policies  were  William  Cod- 
dington,  Roger  Williams.  William  Harris,  Samuel 
Gorton,  William  and  Anne  Hutchinson,  William 
Arnold,  John  Coggeshall,  Nicholas  Easton,  Chad 
■  ^rown  and  John  Clarke.  To  these  we  may  add  the 
names  of  Governor  John  Winthrop  and  Rev.  John 
Wilson,  minister  of  the  First  Church  in  Boston,  as 
influential  factors  of  the  Bay  Colony  in  establishing 
conditions  leading  to  the  exclusion  of  the  citizenship 
that  founded  Rhode  Island.  It  is  well  worth  our 
while  to  note  a  few  antecedent  facts  relative  to  several 
of  these  persons,  on  whose  later  beliefs  and  acts  our 
historic  conclusions  are  based. 


Boston,  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.      17 

As  Old  England  was  the  mother  land  of  New 
England,  so  was  Boston  in  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony 
the  mother  of  the  towns  of  Portsmouth  and  Newport 
in  Rhode  Island  Colony,  in  that  for  several  years 

/  most  of  the  founders  of  the  Rhode  Island  towns  had 
had  their  homes  and  their  training  in  civil  govern- 
ment in  Boston,  and  out  of  a  great  movement  in  that 
town  for  religious  freedom  had  arisen  the  spirited 

\leaders  for  religious  freedom  in  a  new  civil  state. 

William  Coddington  came  from  England  on  the 
ship  Arbella  with  John  Winthrop,  Sir  Richard  Sal- 
tonstall,  Isaac  Johnson  and  his  wife  Lady  Arbella, 
reaching  Salem  Harbor,  Mass.,  June  12,  1630,  in 
company  with  a  fleet  of  ten  other  ships  and  700  pas- 
sengers, 200  of  whom  returned  to  England  on  the 
vessels  which  brought  them,  on  account  of  the  dis- 
couraging outlook  for  the  colonists.  That  his  home 
was  at  Boston,  England,  appears  from  the  record 
that  Archbishop  Laud  had  silenced  Rev.  John  Cotton, 
the  minister  of  the  church  at  Boston,  and  fined,  for 
non-conformity,  his  leading  supporters,  William  Cod- 
dington and  Richard  Bellingham,  prior  to  1629. 
William  Coddington  was  born  in  Lincolnshire, 
England,  1601,  of  a  well-to-do  family.  As  this  part 
of  England  was  the  centre  of  the  Pilgrim  uprising, 
it  is  probable  that  Mr.  Coddington  imbibed  and  ac- 
cepted in  youth  the  more  liberal  views  of  that  section, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty-nine,  with  his  wife,  Mary 
Moseley,  came  to  New  England.     Before  setting  sail 


38  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

from  England,  April  8,  1630,  the  "Farewell  Letter" 
of  the  whole  company  (more  than  eight  hundred 
souls),  signed  by  John  Winthrop,  William  Codding- 
ton,  Thomas  Dudley,  Isaac  Johnson  and  Richard 
Saltonstall,  was  addressed  to  "The  Reverend  Fathers 
and  Brothers"  of  the  English  Church  from  which 
they  were  now  to  part.  Nothing,  in  the  annals  of 
New  England  or  Old,  can  be  found  more  tender  or 
more  noble  than  this  letter,  furnishing  the  key  note 
of  the  whole  enterprise  and  illustrating  the  character 
and  spirit  of  those  engaged  in  it. 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Governor  and  Assistants  at 
Southampton,  England,  March  18,  1629-30,  William 
Coddington  was  chosen  an  Assistant  to  the  Governor, 
with  Mr.  Simon  Bradsteet,  an  office  to  which  he  was 
annually  elected  until  1637.  He  was  chosen  as 
Treasurer  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  in  1634, 
holding  that  office  for  two  years,  when,  in  1636,  he 
was  again  elected  as  an  Assistant,  holding  that  office 
or  a  Deputyship  in  the  General  Court  until  March  12, 
1637-8  when  he,  with  Mr.  John  Coggeshall,  William 
Baulston,  Edward  Hutchinson,  Samuel  Wilbour, 
John  Porter,  John  Compton,  Henry  Ball,  Philip  Sher- 
man, William  Freeborn,  and  Richard  Carder  "having 
license  to  depart,"  left  the  Bay  Colony  to  establish 
a  new  colony  on  the  shores  of  Narragansett  Bay. 

During  the  eight  years  of  Mr.  Coddington's  resi- 
dence in  Boston  he  was  a  merchant,  successful  in 


Boston,  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.      39 

business  and  popular  as  a  citizen  and  magistrate. 
His  fair  estate,  probably  equal  to  that  of  Governor 
Winthrop,  enabled  him  to  erect  the  first  brick  house 
in  Boston.  In  1635,  a  committee  was  chosen  to 
bound  land  for  farms  for  William  Coddington  and 
Edmund  Quincy  at  Mount  Wollaston,  now  Quincy, 
Mass. 

The  first  town  records  of  Boston,  dated  Sept.  1, 
1634,  give  the  names  of  the  Town  Council  as  fol- 
lows: John  Winthrop,  William  Coddington,  John 
Underbill,  Thomas  Oliver,  Thomas  Leverett,  Giles 
Farnum,  John  Coggeshall,  William  Pierce,  Robert 
Harding  and  William  Brenton.  Four  of  these  town 
officers  became  residents  of  Aquidneck.  Of  the 
Town  Council  of  Boston  in  the  year  1636,  six,  one- 
half  the  whole  number,  were  to  become  associate 
founders  of  Newport.  Their  names  were  William 
Hutchinson,  John  Coggeshall,  John  Sanford,  William 
Aspinwall,  William  Brenton  and  William  Baulston. 
In  1635,  Mr.  Coddington  was  on  Committee  on  Mili- 
tary Affairs  and  in  1636  was  made  a  Justice  in  Courts. 

The  First  Church  of  Boston  was  formed  at  Charles- 
town,  Mass.,  Aug.  27,  1630.  On  its  rolls  are  to  be 
found  the  names  of  William  Coddington,  Mary,  his 
wife,  Nathaniel  Woodward,  Margaret  Skeele,  Anne 
Essex  and  Anne  Dorryfall,  "four  servants  to  our 
brother  William  Coddington."  Other  names  of 
members  of  the  First  Church  of  Boston,  whom  we 


40  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Ci^arke. 

shall  meet  later  at  Aquidneck,  were  William  Aspin- 
wall,  wife  Elizabeth  and  servant  Robert  Parker, 
Robert  Harding,  William  Baulston  and  wife  and  ser- 
vant Elizabeth  Chalmers,  Edward  Hutchinson  and 
wife  Sarah,  Samuel  Wilbour  and  wife  Anne,  John 
Coggeshall,  wife  Marie  and  servants  Anne  Shelley 
and  Judith  Garnett,  Edward  Hutchinson,  Jr.  and  wife 
Katharine,  William  Hutchinson,  wife  Anne  and 
Richard,  Francis,  Bridget  and  Faith,  their  children, 
William  Brenton,  wife  Dorothy  and  servants  Anne 
Nidds,  Sir  Harry  Vane,  William  Dyer,  wife  Mary, 
John  Sanford,  Thomas  Savage  and  others. 

John  Coggeshall  was  born  in  Essex  County, 
England,  in  1591,  and  at  the  time  of  the  Puritan 
exodus  was  a  silk  merchant.  In  1632  he  with  thirty- 
two  others  signed  the  oath  of  allegiance  "being  about 
to  depart  for  New  England"  and  sailed  within  a  day 
or  two,  with  his  wife  ]Mary  and  children,  John,  Joshua 
and  Ann,  in  the  ship  Lyon,  which  arrived  at  Boston, 
Sept.  16,  1632.  He  was  made  a  freeman  of  the  Bay 
Colony  in  1632,  and  was  chosen  Deacon  of  the  First 
Church.  He  was  a  selectman  of  the  town  of  Boston 
in  1634  and  a  Deputy  in  the  General  Court  1634-5-6-7 
and  held  several  other  offices  in  the  town  of  Boston. 
On  Nov.  2,  1637,  he  was  removed  from  the  office  of 
Deputy  for  affirming  that  Rev.  John  Wheelwright 
of  Boston  was  innocent  of  the  charges  made  and  that 
he  was  persecuted  for  holding  to  the  truth.     At  the 


Boston,  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.      41 

same  time  he  was  disfranchised  and  warned  not  to 
speak  anything  to  disturb  the  pubUc  peace  on  pain 
of  banishment. 

Nicholas  Easton,  born  in  Lymington,  England, 
1593,  came  to  New  England  with  wife,  Christian  and 
two  sons,  Peter  and  John,  in  1634,  settling  first  in 
Newbury  and  later  in  Boston.  Nov.  20,  1637,  he 
and  others  were  warned  to  deliver  up  all  guns, 
pistols,  swords,  shot,  etc.,  because  "the  opinions  and 
revelations  of  Mr.  Wheelwright  and  Mrs.  Hutchin- 
son have  seduced  and  led  into  dangerous  error  many 
of  the  people  here  in  New  England." 

John  Clarke  was  born  Oct.  8,  1609,  in  Westhorpe, 
Suffolk  Co.  He  was  unusually  well  educated  for 
his  time,  although  we  have  no  record  of  his  school 
or  college  life.  He  styled  himself  "a  physician  of 
London,"  and  in  his  will  he  gives  to  his  dear  friend, 
Richard  Bailey,  his  Hebrew  and  Greek  books,  also  a 
Concordance  and  Lexicon  written  by  himself,  the 
fruit  of  several  years'  study.  He  married  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  John  Harges  of  Bedfordshire,  but  left 
no  issue.  In  1652,  Dr.  Clarke  published  in  London 
a  book  styled  "III  Nezves  from  Nezv  England"  in 
which  he  introduced  the  substances  of  a  tract  issued 
in  1651,  touching  New  England  and  particularly 
Rhode  Island,  in  which  he  discourses  on  the  occasion 
of  his  going  out  with  others  from  Massachusetts 
Bay.     As  this  record  of  Dr.  Clarke  is  the  first  re- 


42  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  CivArke. 

liable  statement  of  a  participant  in  the  events  he  re- 
lates, it  is  worthy  of  special  attention.  "In  the  year 
1637  I  left  my  native  land,  and  in  the  ninth  month  of 
the  same,  I  (through  mercy)  arrived  in  Boston.  I 
was  no  sooner  on  shore,  but  there  appeared  to  me 
diflerences  among  them  touching  the  covenants,  and 
in  points  of  evidencing  a  man's  good  estate,  some 
prest  hard  for  the  Covenant  of  works,  and  for  sancti- 
fication  to  be  the  first  and  chief  evidences;  others 
prest  as  hard  for  the  Covenant  of  grace  that  was 
established  upon  better  promises,  and  for  the  evidence 
of  the  spirit,  as  that  which  is  a  more  certain,  constant 
and  satisfactory  witness.  I  thought  it  not  strange  to 
see  men  dif¥er  about  matters  of  Heaven,  for  I  expect 
no  less  upon  Earth.  But  to  see  that  they  were  not 
able  so  to  bear  with  others  in  their  different  under- 
standings and  consciences,  as  in  these  uttermost  parts 
of  the  world  to  live  peaceably  together,  whereupon  I 
moved  the  latter,  for  as  much  as  the  land  was  before 
us  and  wide  enough  with  the  profer  of  Abraham  to 
Lot,  and  for  peace  sake,  to  turn  aside  to  the  right 
hand  or  to  the  left.  The  motion  was  readily  accepted 
and  I  was  requested  with  some  others  to  seek  out 
a  place." 

William  Arnold  and  his  descendants  have  cut  a 
large  figure  in  the  history  of  our  state.  William  I, 
son  of  Thomas,  of  England,  was  born  in  Dorset 
County,  England,  June  24,  1587.  His  wife  was 
Christian  Peak.     He  sailed  from  England  with  his 


Boston^  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.      43 

family  May  1,  1635  and  landed  in  New  England  June 
24,  1635.  According  to  the  records  of  his  son  Bene- 
dict, who  was  Governor  of  Rhode  Island  for  ten 
years,  between  1663  and  1679,  Mr.  Arnold  and  his 
family  came  to  Providence  April  20,  1636,  at  least 
two  months  in  advance  of  Roger  Williams.  In  1638 
he  became  the  first  settler  at  Pawtuxet,  present  War- 
wick, and  was  one  of  the  twelve  first  members  of  the 
Baptist  church  at  Providence,  1639. 

Samuel  Gorton  was  born  at  Gorton,  Lancaster 
County,  England,  1592  and  died  at  the  ripe  age  of  85, 
in  Warwick,  P.  I.  His  occupation  in  England  was 
that  of  a  clothier.  He  arrived  at  Boston  with  his 
wife  Elizabeth  and  children,  March,  1637,  spent  a 
year  or  two  at  Boston  and  Plymouth,  and  joined  the 
Portsmouth  settlement,  April  30,  1639.  His  religious 
training  was  received  in  the  English  church.  In  an 
address  to  Charles  the  Second  he  wrote,  "I  drew  my 
tenets  from  the  breast  of  my  mother,  the  Church  of 
England."  While  he  ever  held  firmly  to  her  doc- 
trines, yet  in  practice  he  was  a  conscientious  Non- 
conformist. Mr.  Gorton  was  one  of  the  best  educated 
men  of  the  New  England  Colonies,  having  been 
taught  by  able  tutors  in  preparation  for  the  clergy, 
pursuing  a  thorough  classical  education  and  becoming 
an  accomplished  scholar,  skilled  in  the  languages  and 
learned  in  English  law.  His  library  contained  "the 
standard  volumes  in  which  the  ancient  statntpc  w^r^ 
written."     in  Uw,  Dolitics  and  theology  Mr.  Gorton 


^ 


44  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

was  a  thorough  student  and  his  writings  show  him 
to  be  a  logical  thinker  and  a  sharp  debater.  He  was 
an  able  defender  of  the  rights  of  the  people  in  a  civil 
state  and  advocated  full  provisions  for  a  liberal  edu- 
cation for  all,  "not  scrupling  any  civil  ordinance  for 
the  education,  ordering  or  governing  of  any  civil 
state."  His  wealth  probably  exceeded  that  of  any 
other  settler  in  the  Narragansett  Bay  towns. 

Mr.  Williams'  opinion  of  him  was  expressed  thus: 
"Master  Gorton,  having  abused  high  and  low  at 
Aquidneck,  is  now  bewitching  and  bemadding  poor 
Providence,  both  with  his  unclean  and  foul  censures 
of  all  the  minsters  of  this  country  and  also  denying 
all  visible  and  external  ordinances  in  the  depths  of 
familism." 

Mackie  writes  another  view  of  Mr.  Gorton:  "He 
was  one  of  the  noble  spirits  who  esteemed  liberty 
more  than  life,  and,  counting  no  sacrifice  too  great 
for  the  maintenance  of  principle,  could  not  dwell  at 
ease  in  a  land  where  the  inalienable  rights  of  human- 
ity were  not  acknowledged  or  were  mocked  at."  "I 
left  my  native  country,"  he  said,  "to  enjoy  liberty  of 
conscience  in  respect  to  faith  toward  God  and  for 
no  other  end." 

Samuel  G.  Arnold,  the  historian,  held  Gorton  in 
high  esteem.  He  says,  "  He  was  one  of  the  most  re- 
iiidikablc  men  that  cvcr  Hvcd.  His  Career  furnishes 
an  apt  illustration  of  the  radif'aliain  in  action  which 


Boston,  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.      45 

may  spring  from  ultra  conservatism  in  theory."  *  *  * 
"His  astuteness  of  mind  and  his  Bibical  learning 
made  him  a  formidable  opponent  of  the  Puritan  hier- 
archy, while  his  ardent  love  of  liberty,  when  it  was 
once  guaranteed,  caused  him  to  embrace  with  fervor 
the  principles  that  gave  origin  to  Rhode  Island." 

These  men  and  their  associates  had  assisted  in  lay- 
ing the  foundations  of  the  ancient  town  of  Boston, 
some  of  them  from  its  beginning,  in  1630.  As  most 
of  the  founders  of  Aquidneck  were  members  of  the 
First  Church  of  Boston,  it  may  be  safely  assumed 
that  they  were  a  people  of  godly  walk  and  conversa- 
tion,— not  mischief  makers  nor  disturbers  of  the 
peace  of  the  town.  That  they  intended  to  make 
Boston  their  permanent  home  is  evident  from  the 
fact  of  land  ownership,  erection  of  comfortable 
houses,  clearing  the  land,  laying  out  and  planting 
gardens,  etc.  As  already  stated,  Mr.  Coddington 
shared  the  highest  honors  of  the  Bay  Colony  with 
Governor  Winthrop,  John  Endicott,  and  others  of 
the  first  rank.  Their  wives  set  the  standard  of  social 
and  intellectual  life  of  the  town.  We  imagine  that 
popular  amusements  were  few  and  that  the  household 
duties  of  housewives  in  a  new  town  in  a  wilderness 
were  most  laborious  and  engrossing,  yet,  we  must  be- 
lieve that  quiltings  and  afternoon  teas  did  afford 
privileges  of  social  acquaintance  and  true  fellowship 
quite  as  substantial  and  soul-satisfying  as  more 
elaborate,  costly  and  fashionable  modes  of  social  in- 


46  The  Story  op  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

tercourse  of  the  twentieth  century,  in  the  metropolis 
of  New  England.  While  it  was  a  day  of  small  be- 
ginnings in  the  homes,  in  town  affairs  and  in  Colony 
interests,  it  is  fair  to  conclude  that  the  men  and 
women  and  children  of  Boston,  in  1630-38,  had  their 
hands  full  of  hard  work,  their  minds  full  of  thoughts 
and  new  contrivings  and  their  hearts  full  of  human 
interest  and  achievement.  This  school  in  the  wilder- 
ness, on  the  shores  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  was  a  grand 
preparation,  through  experience,  hardship,  discipline, 
courage,  faith,  for  later  and  more  vigorous  duties 
and  responsibilities  awaiting  them  below  the  horizon 
of  their  daily  vision  and  expectation,  in  a  new  field 
of  action. 

But  pioneer  life  in  Boston  had  more  serious  and 
important  functions  than  the  daily  ministries  of  home 
and  communal  duties.  The  founding  of  a  town,  in 
a  new  land,  on  new  lines,  was  no  easy  task  for  men 
of  the  common  mould,  coming  from  manors,  hamlets, 
towns  and  counties,  centuries  old.  ISIunicipal  gov- 
ernment, fitted  to  a  new  social  and  civic  order,  re- 
quired knowledge  of  public  afifairs,  organizing  ability, 
executive  force,  wise  and  prudent  councilling.  A 
new  and  untried  principle, — majority  rule, — was  the 
keynote  of  the  new  community  at  Boston.  Coupled 
with  it  was  the  Puritan  ideal  of  religious  freedom,  as 
yet  an  infantile  thing  in  swaddling  clothes.  No  one 
dared  to  remove  the  bands,  lest  its  expanding  life 
would  usurp  undue  proportions  and  functions.     Here 


Boston,  Thk  School  of  Rhode  Island.      47 

were  problems  of  statecraft  so  large  in  their  possi- 
bilities that  they  involved  the  foundations  of  the  State 
and  the  Nation.  It  is  not  a  figure  of  speech  to  state 
that  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  the  New  England 
Compact  and  the  United  States  of  America  had  their 
birth  in  the  civil  constitutions  and  administrations  of 
Plymouth  and  Boston.  Was  it  not  De  Tocqueville 
who  said  that  the  orderly  town  government  of  Boston 
and  Dorchester  had  exercised  a  "most  prodigious  in- 
fluence" on  the  history  of  New  England? 

At  the  outset,  Boston  people  set  up  housekeeping 
and  town-keeping  together,  and  in  the  latter  they 
showed  great  wisdom  as  well  as  skill  in  the  selection 
of  their  magistrates.  Their  officials  in  the  order  of 
their  choice,  if  not  their  rank,  were  selectmen,  town 
clerk,  town  treasurer,  constables,  surveyor  of  high- 
ways, pound  keeper,  hog-reeve,  water  bailiff,  town 
recorder,  town  crier,  etc.  Among  institutions  of  a 
public  nature  were  the  meeting  house,  which  in  that 
early  day  was  also  the  town  house,  the  stocks,  the 
pillory,  the  whipping  post,  a  house  of  correction,  the 
gallows. 

The  judiciary  of  the  town  was  vested  in  the  Court 
of  Assistants,  the  Governor  presiding.  It  is  a  fact 
of  great  interest  that  the  first  recorded  act  of  the 
Boston  court  was  to  decide  "How  the  ministers  should 
be  maintained,"  when  it  was  ordered  that  houses 
should  be  built  for  them  with  convenient  speed,  at 


48  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

the  public  charge.  William  Coddington  was  a  mem- 
ber of  this  court  from  1630  until  his  departure  from 
Boston  in  1638.  In  1634,  of  the  ten  selectmen  or 
townsmen,  the  governing  board  in  town  affairs,  Wil- 
liam Coddington,  John  Coggeshall,  Robert  Harding 
and  William  Brenton  were  members. 

In  1636,  William  Hutchinson,  John  Coggeshall, 
John  Sanford,  William  Aspinwall,  William  Brenton, 
William  Balston,  constituted  one-half  the  legislative 
and  executive  body  of  the  town,  and  all  later  organ- 
izers of  the  towns  of  Portsmouth  or  Newport  or  both. 
In  the  Colonial  General  Court,  Aquidneck  had  the 
honor  of  having  William  Coddington  and  Gen. 
Thomas  Savage  as  assistants  to  the  Governor.  As 
Representatives  to  the  General  Court  of  the  Bay 
Colony  were  William  Hutchinson,  John  Coggeshall, 
William  Brenton,  Harry  Vane,  William  Coddington 
and  William  Aspinwall. 

The  Representatives  and  Selectmen  of  the  town,  as 
the  uniform  custom  of  New  England  was,  were 
chosen  from  the  citizens  of  the  highest  standing. 
They  exercised  very  considerable  powers  and  enjoyed 
the  confidence  of  the  community.  They  were  chosen 
by  the  free  vote  of  the  governed,  and  it  is  evident, 
from  many  sources,  that  they  were  the  recognized 
leaders  of  the  town  of  Boston.  As  such,  they  studied 
the  problems  of  communal  life,  as  presented  in  a  new 
country,  under  strangely  new  conditions,  with  a 
savage  environment. 


Boston,  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.      49 

A  close  study  of  the  town  records  of  Boston  shows 
how  intimately  the  settlers  of  Aquidneck  were  re- 
lated to  all  the  business  and  official  services  of  the 
town.  It  appears  that  in  every  office,  major  or  minor, 
of  the  town,  some  one  of  the  Rhode  Island  men  was 
chosen  for  its  fulfillment.  Let  me  note  a  few  in- 
stances, with  a  bill  of  particulars. 

John  Coggeshall  was  a  silk  merchant  in  Boston. 
He  was  made  a  freeman  in  1632,  being  then  forty-one 
years  of  age.  In  1634,  he  joined  the  First  Church 
of  Boston  and  was  elected  a  deacon,  holding  the  office 
until  his  removal  to  Aquidneck.  In  1634,  he  gave 
£5  towards  the  sea  fort.  The  same  year  he  was 
chosen  one  of  the  overseers  of  powder,  shot,  etc. 
1634,  he  was  elected  a  selectman  of  Boston.  1634- 
5-6-7,  he  was  elected  a  deputy  from  Boston  in  The 
General  Court  of  The  Bay  Colony.  1635,  Mar.  4, 
he  and  others  were  authorized  to  board  vessels  after 
twenty-four  hours  at  anchor,  take  notice  of  what 
commodities  they  had  to  sell,  confer  about  price,  etc. 
1636,  May  25,  he  was  appointed  on  a  committee  to 
make  a  rate  for  tax  levied  on  the  towns. 

1630,  William  Coddington  became  a  merchant  of 
Boston,  and,  having  ample  means,  built  the  first  brick 
dwelling  in  Boston  at  the  very  centre  of  the  town, 
near  the  site  of  the  present  City  Hall,  between  it  and 
Washington  Street.  In  addition  to  the  high  posi- 
tions of  Assistant,  1630-1-2-3-4-5-6-7,  and  Colonial 
Treasurer  of  The  Bay  Colony,  after  an  absence  of 


50  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

two  years  in  London,  he  was  chosen  as  an  overseer  of 
bridge  building,  was  one  of  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs  of  the  Colony  and  in  1636  was  chosen  as  a 
Judge  of  the  County  Court  of  Boston  and  adjoining 
towns. 

William  Brenton,  in  1634,  the  same  year  he  was 
made  a  Freeman,  was  chosen  to  oversee  the  building 
of  a  House  of  Correction  at  Boston.  He  was  a  Se- 
lectman for  Boston,  1634-5-6-7.  In  1635,  he  was 
appointed  on  a  Committee  to  consider  the  act  of  Mr. 
John  Endicott  of  Salem  in  defacing  the  flag  by  cut- 
ting out  the  Cross.  The  same  year,  he  was  to  fur- 
nish, "at  the  public  charge,"  all  that  which  is  neces- 
sary to  be  done  at  the  prison  at  Boston.  He  was  a 
Deputy  to  the  General  Court  of  the  Bay  Colony  for 
the  years  1635-6-7. 

William  Hutchinson,  husband  of  Anne  Hutchinson, 
was  made  a  Judge  in  the  County  Court  at  Boston 
with  William  Coddington.  In  1635-6,  he  was  a 
Deputy  in  the  General  Court  of  the  Bay  Colony.  In 
1636,  Mr.  Hutchinson,  Mr.  Coddington  and  Mr. 
Brenton,  with  all  the  other  Judges,  were  fined  five 
shillings  apiece  for  "being  absent  at  9  of  the  clock" 
in  opening  the  Court  at  Boston.  Mr.  Hutchinson  and 
Mr.  Coddington  both  owned  farms  at  Mt.  Wollaston, 
now  Ouincv,  Mass. 


^j ' 


Mr.  Hutchinson  owned  the  land  on  the  corner  of 
School  and  Washington  Streets,  Boston ;  built  his  first 


Boston,  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.       51 

house  and  resided  there  until  his  removal  to  Ports- 
mouth in  1638.  Mrs.  Hutchinson  was  a  physician 
and  midwife  in  Boston. 

William  Baulston  was  made  a  Freeman  of  Boston 
in  1630;  was  a  juryman  on  a  murder  trial  the  same 
year ;  was  town  sergeant  of  Boston  in  1634  and  was 
licensed  "to  keep  a  house  of  entertainment  and  to  sell 
such  claret  and  white  wine  as  is  sent  for,"  in  1637. 

Much  more  could  be  said  of  the  important  services, 
individual  and  collective,  of  the  Aquidneck  settlers, 
in  the  founding  of  Boston,  and  the  first  eight  years 
of  the  development  of  social  order,  civil  government 
and  a  church  of  the  Puritan  faith.  It  must  be  clear 
to  all  that  they  held  the  first  rank  as  Christian  citi- 
zens, and  that  they  shared  the  highest  honors  of  the 
town  and  colony  with  Winthrop,  Endicott,  Brad- 
street,  Bellingham  and  Dudley.  The  home  and 
church  life  of  the  people  was  participated  in  by  the 
founders  of  the  Rhode  Island  Colony.  Their  ex- 
periences in  all  the  various  offices  and  functions  gave 
them  the  opportunity  to  judge  of  the  excellency  and 
defects  in  organization  and  administration  in  civil 
and  religious  concerns  in  the  Bay  Colony.  The 
lessons  thus  learned  in  practical,  daily  life  were  in- 
wrought into  their  mental  thought  and  became  the 
guiding  principles  in  the  establishment  of  a  new 
state.  As  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke  develops, 
we  shall  clearly  see  the  fruits  of  the  Boston  planting 


52  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

in  the  new  towns  and  Colony  on  Aquidneck.  "Mag- 
istracy" under  Law  was  the  keystone  in  the  structure 
of  the  English  State.  It  held  the  same  vital  position 
in  the  Puritan  Commonwealth  of  the  Bay  Colony 
and  later  in  the  new  Colony  soon  to  be  planted  in  the 
midst  of  Narragansett  Bay. 

Concerning  the  founders  of  Rhode  Island  Colony 
y  ^  on  Aquidneck  it  may  be  said  that  they  were  a  select 
people  in  education,  in  property,  in  character  and  in 
motive  for  a  new  settlement.  It  will  appear  that  the 
Colony  was  born  in  Boston ;  that  most  of  its  members 
had  spent  from  two  to  seven  years  in  assisting  in  the 
founding  of  that  town ;  that  most  of  them  as  Callen- 
der  states  "were  long  esteemed  as  brethren  of  the 
church  and  never  censured  by  the  church  at  all"  and 
"were  Puritans  of  the  highest  form" ;  that  a  large 
number  of  the  men  had  held  the  highest  positions  of 
trust  and  honor  in  church  and  state;  that,  according 
to  historian  Arnold  they  were  people  "for  the  most 
part,  from  a  superior  class  in  point  of  education  and 
social  standing,  which  for  more  than  a  century  se- 
cured to  them  a  controlling  influence  in  the  Colony" ; 
that,  according  to  the  same  authority,  "their  plans 
were  more  matured  at  the  outset  than  those  of  the 
Providence  settlers;  that  their  object  was  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  Christian  State,  where  all  who  bore 
the  name  might  worship  God  according  to  the  dictates 
of  conscience,  untrammelled  by  written  articles  of 
faith,  and  unawed  by  the  civil  power." 


Boston,  The  School  of  Rhode  Island.       53 

5fe.  Mr.  Richman  in  "Rhode  Island,  A  Study  in  Sepa- 
ratism" writes  as  follows  of  the  two  settlements, 
Aquidneck  and  Providence :  "As  contrasted  with  each 
other,  the  island  was  refined,  flourishing,  aristocratic, 
while  the  main  land  was  primitive,  poor  and  plebian." 
Still  further  he  writes,  "Now  that  the  island  of 
Aquidneck  had  become  a  political  entity,  the  contrast 
between  it  and  the  entity  (or  non-entity)  Providence 
was  marked  in  the  extreme.  By  Providence  there 
was  symbolized  indii'^<lualism  both  religious  and 
political — a  great  centrifugal,  disjunctive  and  even 
disruptive.  By  Aquidneck  (and  especially  by  the 
Newport  part  of  it)  there  was  symbolized  collectivism 
— a  collectivism  thoroughly  individualized  as  to  re- 
ligion, but  in  politics  conjunctive  and  centripetal." 
Two  sentences  more  vitally  pregnant  with  truth,  than 
the  above,  have  never  been  written  concerning  the 
John  Clarke  and  the  Roger  Williams  towns,  on  Nar- 
ragansett  Bay. 

The  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck  was 
founded  on  the  clear  recognition  of  the  rights  of  the 
individual  man  in  civil  and  religious  concerns  and  was 
made  up  of  a  body  of  men  and  women  who  by  years 
uT  mutual  acquaintance  and  fellowship  had  formed  a 
social,  political  and  religious  union  in  advance  of 
their  new  organic  life; 

"Men,  high-minded  men, 

Men  who  their  duties  know. 

But  know  iheir  rights,  and,  knowing,  dare  maintain." 


54  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Anne  Hutchinson's  School  oe  Civil  and 
Religious  Liberty. 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  shown  the  advent 
and  growth  of  new  and  hitherto  untried  principles 
of  town  and  colonial  government  at  Boston,  and  have 
also  shown  that  the  great  body  of  future  citizens  of 
the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  (Aquidneck)  had 
adopted  and  practised  these  principles  and  methods 
for  a  period  of  years, — long  enough  to  test  their  value 
in  actual  colonial  life. 

The  first  four  years  of  Boston  history — 1630-1634 
■ — was  a  period  of  social  and  civic  acquaintance  and 
adjustment.  Protection  from  local  perils  and  the 
safe-guarding  of  colonial  rights  of  franchise  made 
social,  political  and  even  religious  unity  an  absolute 
necessity.  A  hostile  home  government  in  England 
might  at  any  moment,  and,  without  just  cause,  puL  an 
end  to  local  government  and  make  the  political  life 
of  Boston  people  more  burdensome  than  it  had  been 
in  their  native  land,  while  a  hostile  Indian  raid 
might  at  any  moment,  by  tomahawk  and  torch,  wipe 
out  the  infant  settlement.     In  union  was  safety.    The 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      55 

next  four  years  was  a  period  of  differentiation,  singu- 
larly enough,  along  lines  of  most  abstruse  religious 
thought  and  denominational  cleavage,  involving, 
under  the  hard  and  obscure  title,  Antinomian,  the  most 
vital  elements  of  Civil  and  Soul  Liberty.  By  it  Bos- 
ton became  the  storm  centre,  not  only  of  debate  but 
of  deep-seated  and  violent  hatred,  divisions  of  social 
circles  and  families,  of  church  excommunications,  and 
of  banishment. 

Concerning  this  remarkable  mental  and  spiritual 
phenomenon,  which  stirred  the  whole  New  England 
pioneer  life  to  its  deepest  depths,  Mr.  Charles  Francis 
Adams  of  Boston,  late  President  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society,  writes  as  follows:  "In  its  essence, 
that  controversy  was  a  great  deal  more  than  a  re- 
ligious dispute;  it  was  the  first  of  the  many  New 
England  quickenings  in  the  direction  of  social,  intel- 
lectual and  political  developments, — New  England's 
earliest  protest  against  formulas."  *  *  *  *  "It  was 
designed  by  no  one.  No  one  at  the  time  realized  its 
significance.  It  was  to  that  community  just  what  the 
first  questioning  of  an  active  mind  is  to  a  child 
brought  up  in  the  strictest  observance  of  purely  con- 
ventional forms."  *  *  *  *  "They  represented  the  ideas 
of  extreme  civil  liberty  and  religious  toleration."  *  *  * 
"The  issue  between  religious  toleration  and  a  com- 
pelled theological  conformity,  was  as  a  matter  of  es- 
tablished policy,  then  to  be  decided.  It  was,  and  the 
decision  lasted  through  five  generations."  *  *  *  *  "For 


56  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

good  or  evil,  it  committed  Massachusetts  to  a  policy 
of  strict  religious  conformity."  *  *  *  *  "The  domina- 
tion of  1637  was  not  disturbed  or  seriously  shaken 
until  the  era  of  the  Unitarian  movement  under 
Channing,  in  1819." 

The  home  of  William  and  Anne  Hutchinson,  Bos- 
ton, was  the  scene  of  the  most  active  discussions  and 
resolves  that  exercised  the  minds  and  determined  the 
acts  of  the  whole  body  of  the  new  metropolis,  and 
Anne  Hutchinson  was  the  leading  spirit  in  this  strife 
of  tongues..  The  Hutchinson  family  arrived  in 
Boston  Sept.  18,  1634, — a  year  after  their  favorite 
minister  and  teacher,  Rev.  John  Cotton,  who  was  the 
preacher  at  the  old  St.  Botolph's  Church,  in  Boston, 
England.  Anne  Hutchinson,  whose  maiden  name 
was  Marbury,  had  attended  and  richly  enjoyed  the 
liberal  teachings  of  Mv.  Cotton  and  his  removal  to 
Boston,  in  the  Bay  Colony  was  a  strong  magnet  to 
draw  the  Hutchinsons  thither.  William  Hutchinson 
was  the  grandson  of  John  Hutchinson,  a  former 
Mayor  of  Lincoln,  England.  A  descendant  is  found 
in  Thomas  Hutchinson,  Governor  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Colony.  Mr.  Hutchinson  possessed  a  good  prop- 
erty and  located  his  first  house  in  the  centre  of  the 
town,  with  Gov.  John  Winthrop  as  his  nearest  neigh- 
bor, on  the  opposite  side  of  the  street.  Mr.  and  INIrs. 
Hutchinson  with  their  adult  children  joined  the  First 
Church,  Boston,  soon  after  their  arrival,  having  Rev. 
John  Wilson  and  Rev.  John  Cotton  as  pastor  and 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      57 

teacher.  Rev.  Thomas  Weld,  their  most  bitter 
enemy  tells  us  that  the  wife  was  "A  woman  of  a 
haughty  and  fierce  carriage,  of  a  nimble  wit  and 
active  spirit,  and  a  very  voluble  tongue,  more  bold 
than  a  man,  though  in  judgment  and  understanding 
inferior  to  many  women." 

Governor  Winthrop  calls  her  a  woman  "of  a  ready 
wit  and  bold  spirit"  and  her  husband  "a  man  of  very 
mild  temper,  and  weak  parts  and  wholly  guided  by 
his  wife."  The  historian  Palfrey  speaks  of  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  as  "a  capable  and  resolute  woman,"  and 
"a  kind  and  serviceable  neighbor,  especially  to  per- 
sons of  her  own  sex  in  times  of  sickness;  and  by 
these  qualities  united  with  her  energy  of  character 
and  vivacity  of  mind,  she  acquired  esteem  and  influ- 
ence." Mr.  Charles  Francis  Adams  says  of  her, 
"Born  about  the  year  1600,  during  the  time  she  lived 
in  Boston — a  little  less  than  four  years — Anne 
Hutchinson  was  a  woman  in  the  full  vigor  of  life,  of  a 
strong  religious  instinct,  and  a  remarkably  well-de- 
veloped controversial  talent,  wonderfully  endowed 
with  the  indescribable  quality  known  as  magnetism." 

Rev.  Dr.  George  E.  Ellis  of  Boston  estimates  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  as  "a  pure  and  excellent  woman  to  whose 
person  and  conduct  there  attaches  no  stain.  She  first 
became  known  for  her  kind  and  helpful  services, 
friendly  and  medical,  to  her  own  sex  in  their  needs. 
*  *  *  *  a  woman  of  'nimble  wit'  and  a  high  spirit — 
gifted  in  argument  and  ready  speech." 


58  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Mr.  Rufus  M.  Jones,  author  of  "Quakers  in  Amer- 
ica," styles  Mrs.  Hutchinson  "the  pre-Quakeress  of 
New  England."  "The  first  teacher  in  New  England 
of  the  doctrine  of  the  inner  light  of  God  in  the  soul." 

Mr.  William  B.  Weeden  in  "Early  Rhode  Island" 
speaks  of  Anne  Marbury  as  a  parishioner  and  be- 
loved disciple  of  Rev.  John  Cotton  in  England,  "who 
soon  outgrew  the  parson's  teaching  for  she  assimi- 
lated theology  and  philosophy  as  readily  as  she  took 
her  mother's  milk."  *  *  *  *  'In  intellect  and  vigor  of 
temperament  she  would  have  been  remarkable  in  any 
time  or  place ;  she  was  extraordinary  when  women 
were  expected  to  listen  humbly,  and  in  no  wise  to 
create  any  function  of  their  own.  Nothing  aston- 
ished her  prosecutors  and  judges  in  Massachusetts 
more  than  her  mastery  of  a  situation,  her  speaking  at 
will  or  holding  her  tongue  under  provocation." 

Here,  evidently,  is  a  woman  of  power,  of  vision, 
of  mental  vigor  and  clearness,  and  of  moral  and  re- 
ligious convictions.  She  is  strong  enough  in  her  own 
rights  to  set  at  naught  the  traditions  of  men  as  to  a 
woman's  sphere  in  the  church  and  in  society  and 
opens  her  house,  once  and  often  twice  a  week,  for  a 
meeting  of  the  women  of  Boston  to  discuss  the  live 
questions  of  church  and  state.  She  goes  even  further 
and  invites  the  leading  men  of  Boston  to  sit  with  the 
women  and  to  discuss,  in  this  first  open  Forum  in 
America,  or  of  its  kind  in  the  world,  the  topics  of  the 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      59 

hour.  It  is  not  a  school  of  tattlers  or  scandal  mon- 
gers. All  are  serious  Puritans,  debating  serious 
matters,  and  a  most  serious  woman  presides  and  sets 
the  keynote  of  the  thinking  body  of  town  folks,  who 
crowd  her  "large  and  commodious  house"  to  the 
doorsteps,  so  vigorous  is  the  tone  of  the  debate,  so 
practical,  to  their  time,  the  themes  discussed.  Mrs. 
Hutchinson  has  won  her  way  into  the  heart  of  Bos- 
ton society  by  her  sympathetic  and  helpful  services  as 
midwife  to  young  mothers  and  a  domestic  physician 
and  nurse  to  the  sick  of  both  sexes.  Boston  society 
responds  quickly  to  her  invitation  to  her  house  and 
hospitable  entertainment.  But  readiest  of  all  Boston 
lends  a  quick  ear  to  her  discussion  of  magistrates  and 
town  government,  to  her  views  of  household  eco- 
nomics and  child  training,  and  most  particularly  to 
her  views  of  religious  doctrines  and  discipline  as  pre- 
sented by  the  minister  and  teacher  of  the  First 
Church,  Rev.  John  Wilson  and  Rev.  John  Cotton. 

In  matters  of  religion  and  theology  Anne  Hutchin- 
son was  a  seer,  a  prophetess,  "a  Daniel,  come  to  judg- 
ment." Three  great  spiritual  concepts  possessed  her. 
She  believed  that  the  human  soul  could  and  did  hold 
close  communication  with  the  Divine  Over-Soul.  She 
believed  in  direct  and  special  revelations  from  the 
Divine  to  the  human, — from  God  to  her  own  soul. 
She  also  believed  in  a  spiritual  justification  of  the 
soul  of  man,  with  God,  through  Faith.     She  clearly 


y 


60  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

and  fearlessly  declared  herself  a  teacher  of  the  doc- 
trine of  justification  through  Faith,  rather  than  of 
sanctification  through  works.  The  former  she  styled 
"The  Covenant  of  Faith,"  the  latter  "The  Covenant 
of  Works."  These  doctrines  constituted  what  was 
styled  "Antinomianism" — a  word  of  obscure  and  of 
little  value  except  as  an  historic  relic  in  the  museum 
of  antiquated  theology. 

Mrs.  Hutchinson's  intensely  practical  temper  led 
her  to  make  application  of  her  teachings  to  her  own 
church  and  its  ministers.  She  openly  asserted  and 
constantly  affirmed  that  Rev.  John  Wilson  was  only  a 
cold  formalist,  living  in  and  teaching  "The  Covenant 
of  Works."  So  far  did  she  carry  her  dislike  to  the 
doctrine  and  its  teachers,  that  she  would  walk  out  of 
the  meeting  house  whenever  Mr.  Wilson  and  others 
of  his  thinking  began  to  preach,  and  many,  of  like  be- 
lief with  herself,  followed  her  example.  Her  favorite 
teacher.  Rev.  John  Cotton,  was  to  her  mind,  a  true 
disciple  in  "The  Covenant  of  Grace,"  as  was  Rev. 
John  Wheelwright,  her  brother-in-law,  the  minister 
of  the  church  at  Braintree,  Mass.  Mrs.  Hutchinson's 
kindly  spirit  and  generous  services  had  won  the  hearts 
of  the  people  of  Boston.  Her  earnest  arguments, 
clothed  in  winning  words,  won  their  intellectual  as- 
sent and  cordial  adherence,  so  much  so  that  the  audi- 
ences at  her  Thursday  afternoon  meetings  were 
larger  than  those  at  the  First  Church  on  Sundays. 


SIR  HARRY  VANE 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      61 

The  leading  men  of  Boston  as  well  as  the  women  be- 
came adherents  to  her  teachings  and  at  one  time  all 
but  five  members  of  the  First  Church  claimed  to  be 
her  followers.  Among  them  were  William  Codding- 
ton,  Sir  Harry  Vane,  Governor,  and  the  whole  of  the 
Aquidneck  delegation.  Gov.  Winthrop  stood  with 
Rev.  John  Wilson  in  opposition  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson. 
Outside  of  Boston,  the  ministry  were  unanimously 
opposed  to  her  doctrines  and  teachings  and  when  she 
declared  the  clergy  of  The  Bay  Colony  to  be  "cold 
formalists,"  "dead,  without  a  name  to  live,"  "whited 
sepulchres,"  "hypocrites,"  "false  teachers,"  etc.,  etc., 
they  felt,  that,  unless  this  new  sectarian  was  silenced, 
their  holy  craft  was  in  great  danger  of  an  ignomin- 
ious overthrow,  and  that  downfall  would  be  due  to  a 
woman !  Was  not  the  colony  a  theocracy  ?  Was  not 
God's  Word  the  rule  of  life  in  the  new  state?  Was 
not  the  ministry  the  interpreters  and  teachers  of  that 
Word?  Shall  Heresy  be  allowed  to  destroy  a  Puritan 
Commonwealth?  Shall  the  ministry,  the  church,  the 
theocracy,  the  new  order  of  statehood  go  down  under 
the  assaults  of  a  feminine  foe  "whose  tongue  was  as 
a  sword  and  her  sex  a  shield?"  The  voice  of  the 
clergy  of  the  Bay  Colony  was  almost  as  the  voice  of 
one  man  in  an  emphatic  determination  to  put  down 
this  persistent  advocate  of  adjudged  pestilential  and 
heretical  doctrines.  Rev.  John  Cotton  and  Rev.  John 
Wheelwright  aligned  themselves  with  the  Antinomian 
cause,  although  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Cotton,  his  atti- 


62  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

tude  was  later  changed  to  one  of  opposition  to  his 
former  English  parishioner  and  favorite. 

,  For  four  year,, — 1634-1638 — Mrs.  Hutchinson  had 
taught  a  new  Revelation  as  to  Church  and  State.  In 
the  midst  of  much  debate  that,  in  our  time,  seems 
incoherent  and  meaningless,  this  new  school  empha- 
sized certain  great,  essential  principles  of  modern 
Democracy,  or  what  Mr.  Lodge  calls  at  that  age 
.  liberal  Puritanism.  The  open  Forum  at  the  Hutchin- 
sons  was  none  other  than  the  free  and  untrammelled 
debate  of  the  New  England  town  meeting,  in  which 
John  Adams  tells  us  our  liberties  were  first  asserted 
and  assured.  Liberty  of  thought  and  speech  were 
not  only  claimed  as  the  right  of  freemen,  but  was 
fully  illustrated  and  confirmed.  But  liberty  of 
thought  and  expression  is  only  another  name  for  Re- 
ligious Liberty  and  it  is  not  too  much  to  affirm  that  in 
the  Hutchinson  School  there  was,  for  three  years, 
the  most  absolute  exercise  of  Religious  Freedom,  as 
a  basic  principle  of  a  Free  State. 

Still  more,  the  larger  conception  of  a  Free  Com- 
monwealth was  evolved,  in  which  all  classes  of  people, 
— clergy  and  laity,  the  rich  and  the  poor,  the  learned 
and  the  unlearned, — stood  as  equals  before  the  law, 
with  rights  as  to  life,  liberty  and  justice,  unabridged, 
except  as  forfeited  by  crime,  or  lost  by  incompetency. 
It  is  difficult  to  construct  a  broader  platform  in  con- 
cerns civil,  social,  economical  and  religious,  than  we 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      63 

find  claimed,  advocated  and  for  a  brief  time  enjoyed, 
in  the  Hutchinson  Free  State,  at  the  corner  of  Wash- 
ington and  School  streets,  Boston,  in  the  Bay  Colony. 
1634-1638.  Even  the  claimants  for  the  rights  of  man, 
irrespective  of  sex,  may  assume  Anne  Hutchinson  of 
Boston  as  their  leader  and  first  great  advocate  and 
practitioner,  so  far  as  the  conditions  of  her  time  made 
such  claims  and  practise  valid. 

Rev.  John  Wheelwright,  minister  to  the  Congre- 
gational church  at  Braintree,  born  at  Alford,  Lincoln- 
shire, 1592,  was  a  non-conformist  preacher,  learned 
and  eloquent  and  withal  a  defender  of  "The  Covenant 
of  Grace."  On  a  Fast  Day  in  January,  1637,  he  de- 
livered what  Mr.  Adams  calls  "the  most  momentous 
sermon  ever  preached  from  the  American  pulpit." 
The  sermon  was  a  masterly  defence  of  "The  Cove- 
nant of  Grace,"  as  taught  by  Airs.  Hutchinson  and 
himself,  "against  pagans  and  anti-Christians,  and 
those  that  runne  under  a  Covenant  of  Works."  It 
was  a  bold  affirmation  of  a  spiritual  faith  in  opposi- 
tion to  a  worldly,  unspiritual  orthodoxy.  In  March, 
1637,  the  General  Court  declared  Mr.  Wheelwright 
guilty  of  contempt  and  sedition,  deferred  the  sentence, 
and  changed  the  seat  of  government  to  Cambridge,  as 
Boston  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the  accused  min- 
ister. Troublous  days  are  on  at  Boston.  The  spring 
election  turned  on  the  issue  as  to  "The  Covenants," — 
orthodoxy  triumphed.    Governor  Vane  was  defeated. 


64  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Coddington  failed  of  an  election  as  an  Assistant,  and 
all  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson's  adherents  on  the  general 
ticket  were  defeated.  Fisticuffs  were  engaged  in  by 
the  most  devout  and  Pastor  Wilson  climbed  a  tree  to 
harangue  the  voters,  all  of  whom  were  church  mem- 
bers. Vane  soon  went  back  to  England.  Coddington 
was  elected  a  Deputy  to  the  General  Court  from  Bos- 
ton, as  were  William  Aspinwall  and  John  Coggeshall. 
Rev.  John  Cotton  saw  a  new  light  in  the  election  re- 
turns and  was  "won  over  to  an  uncompromising  or- 
thodoxy." Winthrop,  Governor,  and  Endicott,  Dud- 
ley^, Bellingham,  Bradstreet,  Saltonstall  and  others  of 
the  orthodox  party  sat  in  the  "Seats  of  the  Mighty." 
In  the  spring  election  of  1637  in  the  Bay  Colony  the 
hands  on  the  timepiece  of  Progress  and  Spiritual  En- 
franchisement were  set  back  into  the  twilight  hours 
and  the  pendulum  ceased  to  beat. 

August  30,  1637,  the  first  Cambridge  Synod  of 
Magistrates  and  IMinisters  met  at  Newtown,  and  be- 
fore it  Mrs.  Anne  Hutchinson  was  summoned  to  an- 
swer to  eighty-two  "erroneous  opinions"  cherished 
and  taught  in  her  school  at  Boston.  Single-handed 
and  alone  she  withstood  the  assaults  and  answered  the 
questionings  of  this  large  lay  and  clerical  court, 
nearly  all  of  whose  numbers  were  hostile  to  the  de- 
fendant. To  those  who  care  to  read  the  celebrated 
polemic  dialogue,  reference  is  made  to  "Antinomi- 
anism   in    Massachusetts    Bav   Colony"    by   Charles 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      65 

Francis  Adams.  As  was  to  be  expected,  j\Irs.  Hutch- 
inson was  heard  and  condemned  by  the  Synod 
after  a  session  of  twenty-four  days  and  her  case  was 
referred  to  the  Great  and  General  Court  of  the  Col- 
ony as  well  as  to  the  church  of  which  she  was  a  mem- 
ber for  such  discipline  as  those  bodies  might  see  fit 
to  exercise. 

The  session  of  the  General  Court  of  the  Bay  Colony 
in  November,  1637,  was  an  event  of  mighty  signifi- 
cance in  the  annals  of  American  History — probably 
greater  than  any  that  has  since  succeeded,  for  in  and 
by  it  the  magistrates  declared  various  opinions  hereti- 
cal and  also  voted  banishment  to  a  large  body  of  the 
most  eminent  and  valuable  citizens  of  Boston  and 
other  Colonial  towns.  As  a  result  of  such  action  and 
the  forcible  migration  of  this  class  of  people,  new 
towns  were  established  in  Northern  and  Southern 
New  England  and  a  new  Colony  was  created  on 
Aquidneck  in  Narragansett  Bay  which  embodied  in 
its  primal  acts  the  principles  of  Civil  and  Religious 
Liberty,  against  whose  establishment  at  Boston,  the 
orthodox  party  of  the  Bay  Colony,  led  by  Governor 
John  Winthrop,  had  so  strenuously  and  successfully 
set  themselves.  "The  Lord  brethren"  of  Boston  had 
shown  themselves  the  lineal  descendants  of  the 
Bishops  of  the  mother  land,  and  the  several  acts  of 
scission  made  possible  and  certain  the  founding  and 
permanent  establishment  of  a  Liberal  Puritan  State 


66  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

on   Aquidneck,   in   Narragansett   Bay,   dedicated  to 
Civil  and  Soul  Liberty  from  its  first  inception. 
"There's  a  Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends, 
Rough  hew  them  how  we  will." 

Events  of  moment  follow  in  rapid  succession.  We 
turn  to  the  pages  of  the  Records  of  The  Colony  of 
Massachusetts  Bay  in  New  England  for  their  estab- 
lishment.. 

Nov.  2,  1637.  "Mr.  John  Wheelwright,  being  for- 
merly convicted  of  contempt  and  sedition,  and  now 
justifying  himself  and  his  former  practise,  being  to 
the  disturbance  of  the  civill  peace,  hee  is  by  the  Court 
disfranchised  and  banished,  having  14  days  to  settle 
his  afifaires,  and  if  within  that  time  hee  depart  not 
the  patent,  hee  promiseth  to  render  himselfe  to  Mr. 
Staughton,  at  his  house,  to  bee  kept  till  hee  bee  dis- 
posed of." 

"Mr.  John  Coggeshall  being  convented  for  disturb- 
ing the  publike  peace,  was  disfranchised,  and  enjoyned 
not  to  speake  anything  to  disturb  the  publike  peace, 
upon  pain  of  punishment."  Mr.  Coggeshall  was  a 
Deacon  of  the  First  Church  and  was  recently  elected 
as  a  Deputy  from  Boston  as  was  Deacon  William 
Aspinwall.  Both  were  unceremoniously  expelled 
from  the  General  Court  and  a  new  election  ordered. 
Mr.  Coddington  was  also  a  Deputy  from  Boston,  but 
was  allowed  to  retain  his  seat  in  the  court. 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      67 

"Mr.  William  Aspinwall  being  convented  for  hav- 
ing his  hand  to  a  petition  or  remonstrance,  being  a 
seditious  libell,  and  justifiing  the  same,  for  which, 
and  for  his  insolent  and  turbulent  carriage,  hee  is 
disfranchised  and  banished,  puting  in  sureties  for  his 
departure  before  the  end  of  the  first  month  next 
ensuing." 

"Mrs.  (Anne)  Hutchinson,  (wife  of  Mr.  William 
Hutchinson),  being  convented  for  traducing  the  min- 
isters and  their  ministry  in  this  country,  shee  de- 
clared volentarily  her  revelations  for  her  ground, 
and  that  shee  should  be  delivered  and  the  Court 
ruined,  with  their  posterity,  and  thereupon  was  ban- 
ished, and  the  meane  while  was  commited  to  Mr. 
Joseph  ^^"elde  untill  the  Court  shall  dispose  of  her." 

These  acts  were  all  passed  under  date  of  Nov.  2, 
1637.  At  the  next  sitting  of  the  Court,  on  Nov.  15, 
several  more  citizens  and  freemen  were  disfranchised 
for  signing  the  Wheelwright  protest.  Five  days 
later,  Nov.  20,  the  General  Court  passed  an  act  that, 
for  unadulterated,  high  handed  tyranny,  has  few 
more  flagrant  examples  in  the  history  of  half  civi- 
lized states.  It  was  worthy  of  the  insolent  audacity 
of  Arch-Bishop  Laud  and  the  Star  Chamber.  Here 
it  is  fresh  from  the  Records  of  The  Colony  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  Vol.  I,  p.  211: 

"Whereas  the  opinions  and  revelations  of  Mr. 
Wheelwright  and  Mrs.  Hutchinson  have  seduced  and 


68  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

led  into  dangerous  errors  many  of  the  people  heare 
in  Newe  England,  insomuch  as  there  is  just  cause  of 
suspition  that  they,  as  others  in  Germany,  in  former 
times,  may,  upon  some  revelation,  make  some  suddaine 
irruption  upon  those  that  differ  from  them  in  judg- 
ment, for  prevention  whereof  it  is  ordered,  that  all 
those  whose  names  are  underwritten  shall  (upon 
warning  given  or  left  at  their  dwelling  houses)  before 
the  30th  day  of  this  month  of  November,  deliver  at 
Mr.  Cane's  house,  at  Boston,  all  such  guns,  pistols, 
swords,  powder,  shot  and  match  as  they  shall  bee 
owners  of,  or  have  in  their  custody,  upon  paine  of 
ten  pound  for  every  default  to  bee  made  thereof; 
which  armes  are  to  bee  kept  by  Mr.  Cane  till  this 
Court  shall  take  further  order  therein.  Also,  it  is 
ordered,  upon  like  penalty  of  fX  that  no  man  who 
is  to  render  his  armes  by  this  order  shall  buy  or  bor- 
row any  guns,  swords,  pistols,  powder,  shot,  or  match, 
untill  this  Court  shall  take  further  order  therein." 

Fifty-eight  citizens  of  Boston  are  named  and  sev- 
enteen from  nearby  towns.  On  a  groundless  sus- 
picion, for  no  crime,  seventy-five  heads  of  families  are 
subjected  to  the  humiliation  of  carrying  to  Mr.  Cane's 
house  in  Boston,  all  the  means  of  personal  and  family 
protection  they  possessed,  thereby  setting  at  naught 
the  well  established  doctrine  of  the  house  the  castle, 
not  even  entering  the  premises  by  a  legal  search 
warrant. 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      69 

Of  the  men  of  Boston,  who,  within  a  few  months 
of  this  were  founders  of  a  new  town  at  Aquidneck, 
were  William  Hutchinson,  husband  of  Anne,  Dea. 
William  Aspinwall,  Samuel  Cole,  William  Dyer,  hus- 
band of  Mary,  Edward  Rainsford,  John  Batton,  John 
Sanford,  Richard  Cooke,  Richard  Fairbanks,  Oliver 
Mellows,  Samuel  Wilbour,  John  Oliver,  Richard 
Gridley,  Zachariah  Bosworth,  William  Townsend, 
William  Pell,  Richard  Hutchinson,  James  Johnson, 
Gen.  Thomas  Savage,  John  Odlin,  Gamalial  Wayte, 
Edward  Hutchinson,  Isaac  Gross,  Richard  Carder, 
Robert  Harding,  Richard  Wayte,  John  Porter,  Jacob 
Elliott,  Thomas  Wardell,  William  Wardell,  William 
Baulston,  William  Freeborn,  Henry  Bull,  William 
Salter,  Dr.  John  Clarke,  Dea.  John  Coggeshall, 
Mr.  Easton  of  Newbury,  Richard  Bulgar  and  Philip 
Sherman  of  Roxbury  were  included  in  the  act  of  dis- 
armament of  peaceable  citizens,  whose  only  civic 
offence  was  their  endorsement  of  the  liberal  views  of 
Mrs.  Hutchinson  and  Rev.  John  Wheelwright  as  to 
a  free  church  in  a  free  state.  It  seems  almost  unbe- 
lievable that  Governor  John  Winthrop  and  men  of  his 
type  should  have  committed  an  act  of  such  a  criminal 
i    character,  for  which  they  could  have  been  held  amen- 

y     able  for  treason  against  the  state  in  the  Courts  of 

i     England.    But  the  unjust  order  was  obeyed,  arms  and 

ammunition  were  given  up  by  these  hitherto  loyal 

/  citizens,  for  the  most  part  church  members  and  free- 
men of  the  Bay  Colony.    Other  plans  and  the  found- 


70  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

ing  of  other  towns  and  a  new  Colony  possess  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  these  men  and  women,  whose 
opinions  as  to  civil  and  religious  freedom  are  so  at 
variance  with  the  theocracy  of  Boston. 

The  closing  acts  of  the  drama  are  a  worthy  sequel 
to  the  events  which  were  inaugurated  by  the  advent 
of  Anne  Hutchinson  to  Boston  in  1634.  The  time  is 
March,  1638.  The  place  is  the  meeting  house  of  the 
First  Church  of  Boston.  The  Rev.  John  Wilson  is 
in  the  pulpit  and  Anne  Hutchinson  stands  before  him 
to  receive  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  with  a 
crowded  assembly  as  witnesses.  It  is  the  hour  of  the 
jubilant  triumph  of  Puritan  orthodoxy  over  a  more 
liberal  faith  and  a  more  liberal  civil  polity.  Wilson 
and  Winthrop  are  vindicated;  Anne  Hutchinson  is 
silenced.  Listen  to  the  words  of  condemnation  rolling 
out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Puritan  Pope  of  Boston 
against  the  female  culprit  at  the  foot  of  the  sacred 
altar  of  the  temple  of  the  despised  Jesus, — "There- 
fore in  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  and  in  the 
name  of  the  church  I  do  not  only  pronounce  you 
worthy  to  be  cast  out,  but  I  do  cast  you  out ;  and  in 
the  name  of  Christ  do  I  deliver  you  up  to  Satan,  that 
you  may  learn  no  more  to  blaspheme,  to  seduce  and 
to  lie;  and  I  do  account  you  from  this  time  forth  to 
be  a  Heathen  and  a  Publican,  and  so  to  be  held  of 
all  the  brethren  and  sisters  of  this  congregation  and 
of  others;  therefore  I  command  you  in  the  name  of 


Anne  Hutchinson  and  Soul  Liberty.      71 

Christ  Jesus  and  of  this  church  as  a  leper  to  with- 
draw yourself  out  of  the  congregation."  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  think  of  such  an  awful  utterance  from  a  min- 
inster  of  the  Gospel  of  Love  of  the  Christ.  One  can 
almost  see  Angels  weep  and  Satan  laugh. 

As  Anne  Hutchinson  turned  from  the  altar  to 
leave  the  house,  bearing  in  her  heart  the  heavy  an- 
athemas of  the  church  she  had  loved,  out  of  the  awe- 
stricken  throng  came  Mary  Dyer,  one  of  her  disciples 
and  devoted  friends,  took  her  arm  and  walked  by  her 
side  down  the  aisle  and  out  of  the  house.  One  story 
has  it  that  William  Coddington  also  walked  by  her 
side.  If  not  in  fact,  he  did  in  spirit  as  did  all  the  de- 
voted band  who  were  preparing  for  a  new  exodus  to 
a  new  land  of  promise.  One  standing  at  the  meeting 
house  door  said  to  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  "The  Lord  sanc- 
tify this  unto  you."  She  replied,  "The  Lord  judgeth 
not  as  man  judgeth.  Better  to  be  cast  out  of  the 
church  than  to  deny  Christ."  A  stranger  in  Boston, 
pointing  at  Mary  Dyer,  asked,  "Who  is  that  young 
woman?"  The  reply  was,  "It  is  the  woman  which 
bore  the  monster."  Twenty-four  years  later,  Mary 
Dyer  was  hung  on  Boston  Common  for  being  a 
Quakeress. 

One  more  event  is  of  record  when  we  turn  to  the 
great  "experiment"  for  which  eight  years  of  Boston 
history  has  been  the  preparatory  school, — the  found- 
ing of  The  Colony  of  Rhode  Island,  in  Narragansett 


72  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Bay.  We  have  already  noted  the  warnings  of  the 
Bay  Colony,  the  notes  of  the  impending  separation, 
exclusion  and  banishment.  On  the  12th  of  March, 
1638,  the  summons  is  issued  against  Mr.  Coddington 
and  others  as  follows:  "Mr.  William  Coddington,  Mr. 
John  Coggeshall,  Gov.  William  Baulston,  Edward 
Hutchinson,  Samuel  Wilbore,  John  Porter,  John 
Compton,  Henry  Bull,  Philip  Shearman,  Willi  Free- 
borne  and  Richd  Carder,  these  haveing  license  to  dept, 
summons  is  to  go  out  for  them  to  appear  (if  they  bee 
not  gone  before)  at  the  next  Court,  the  third  month, 
to  answer  such  things  as  be  objected." 

The  Stone  which  the  builders  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Bay  Colony  rejected  shall  soon  become  the  cor- 
ner of  a  new  Commonwealth,  styled  The  Colony  of 
Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck. 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  73 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Dr.  John  Clarke. 
From  1609-1651. 

Dr.  John  Clarke  of  Aquidneck  was  in  the  fourth 
generation  from  John  the  first,  through  John  and 
Thomas.  He  was  the  third  son  of  Thomas  and  Rose 
Clarke  and  was  born  in  Westhorpe,  Suflolk  Co.,  Oct. 
8,  1609.  An  older  brother,  Thomas,  born  1605,  and 
a  younger  brother,  Joseph,  born  Dec.  9,  1618,  were 
admitted  inhabitants  of  Aquidneck,  1638,  and  united 
with  their  brother  John  in  the  formation  of  the  First 
Baptist  Church  of  Newport,  R.  I.,  in  1644.  A  fourth 
brother,  Carew,  born  Feb.  3,  1602,  also  settled  at 
Newport. 

Little  is  known  of  the  early  years  of  Dr.  Clarke, 
but  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  they  were  devoted  to 
the  acquisition  of  learning  under  the  best  conditions 
of  that  period  of  English  life  as  we  find  him  at  the 
age  of  twenty-eight  holding  two  professions,  that  of 
a  physician  and  also  an  ordained  minister  of  the 
Baptist  faith.  The  best  evidence  we  have  as  to  the 
source  of  his  academic  education  is  obtained  from  a 
catalogue  of  the  University  of  Leyden,  Holland, 
1575-1875.    The  entry  is  as  follows: 


74  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Johannes  Clarcq,  Anglus,  17  July,  1635-273. 
"Album  stndiosormn  Academiae  Lugduno  Batavia, 

1575-1875. 

Accedunt    nomina    curatorum    et    professorum    per 

eadem  secula." 

Translation. 
"John  Clarke,  England  17  July,  1635-273." 
A  Catalogue  of  the  Students  of  the  Academy  at  Ley- 
den,  Batavia,  1575-1875. 
Also  the  names  of  officers  and  teachers  for  the  same 

period." 

As  Dr.  Clarke  was  a  Non-Conformist,  it  seems 
easy  to  believe  that  he  obtained  his  university  educa- 
tion in  this  liberal  town,  the  home  of  the  Pilgrims 
of  Plymouth  from  1607  to  1620.  It  is  also  reason- 
able to  assume  that  he  was  a  member  of  or  in  fellow- 
ship with  the  Baptists  of  Holland,  who  had,  as  early 
as  1611,  affirmed  the  right  of  all  men  to  religious 
liberty  and  the  duty  of  obedience  to  lawful  govern- 
ment. One  of  Dr.  Clarke's  biographers  states  that 
"he  attained  high  repute  for  ability  and  scholarship 
in  languages,  including  Latin,  Greek  and  Hebrew, 
law,  medicine  and  theology."  In  theology.  Dr.  Clarke 
accepted  and  taught  the  doctrines  of  the  Particular 
or  Calvinistic  Baptists,  in  opposition  to  the  Ar- 
minian  Baptists.  That  he  was  a  man  of  classical 
learning  and  accurate  scholarship  appears  from  an 
"item"  in  his  will:  "Unto  my  loving  friend,  Richard 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  75 

Bailey,  I  give  and  bequeath  my  Concordance  and 
Lexicon  to  it  belonging,  written  by  myself,  being  the 
fruit  of  several  years  study ;  my  Hebrew  Bibles,  Bux- 
torff's  and  Passor's  Lexicon,  Cotton's  Concordance 
and  all  the  rest  of  my  books." 

In  the  library  of  Harvard  College  is  an  ancient 
book,  entitled  "Holy  Oyle  for  the  Lampes  of  the  Sanc- 
tuarie;  or  Scripture  Phrases  Alphabetically  Disposed 
for  the  Use  and  Benefit  of  such  as  desire  to  speake 
the  Language  of  Canaan,  more  especially  the  sonnes 
of  the  Prophets  who  would  attain  elegancie  and  sub- 
limiitie  of  expression,  by  John  Clarke,  Master  of 
Arts. 

London,  printed  by  Aug.  Mathews  for  Rob.  Mil- 
bourne,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  shop  at  the  Grey- 
hound in  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  1630." 

The  book,  3}^  x  7^,  pp.  535,  is  dedicated  in  Latin 
to  the  Bishop  of  Lincoln  and  is  dated  at  Lincoln, 
England,  Nov.  12,  1629.  It  is  a  subject  index  to  the 
Bible  or  an  Analytical  Concordance.  The  author 
says,  "Amongst  the  world  of  bookes  which  are  in  the 
world,  I  never  hitherto  sawe  or  heard  of  any  of  this 
nature  in  any  language  now  extinct.  *  *  *  Come  and 
see — a  booke  which  may  first  serve  instead  of  a  Con- 
cordance for  the  finding  out  of  many  places  in  the 
Bible,  especially  of  homogeneal  sense,  though  not 
words,  all  or  alwayes.    Second,  supply  the  want  for  a 


76  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Ci^arke. 

commentory  upon  divers  passages  of  Holy  Scriptures. 
*  *  *  *  Thirdly,  by  the  various  expressions  of  the 
same  things  not  only  furnish  a  preacher  with  heaven- 
lie  and  sweet  elegancies,  but  also  very  much  enrich 
his  invention.  *  *  *  *  The  book  is  not,  I  confess,  so 
exactly  done  as  I  could  wish ;  yet  done  it  is  as  I  have 
been  able  in  my  successive  houres  and  time  borrowed 
sometimes  from  sleepe  (being  first  compared  and 
since  written  out  in  the  night)  as  thou  mayeth  easily 
perceive  me  to  have  beene  nodding  now  and  then." 

As  there  is  but  one  known  Concordance  by  John 
Clarke,  M.  A.,  it  is  inferred  that  Dr.  Clarke  of  Rhode 
Island  is  the  author  of  the  volume  above  described. 

Dr.  Clarke  was  married  three  times.  His  first 
wife  was  Elizabeth  Harges,  daughter  of  John  Harges, 
Esq.,  of  Bedfordshire,  England,  whom  he  married 
before  he  left  his  native  land  in  1637.  She  died  at 
Newport,  without  issue.  February  1,  1671,  he  mar- 
ried Mrs.  Jane  Fletcher  by  whom  he  had  a  daughter, 
born  February  14,  1672.  The  mother  died  April  19, 
1672;  the  daughter  died  May  18,  1673.  His  third 
wife  was  Mrs.  Sarah  Davis,  widow  of  Nicholas 
Davis.    She  died  in  1692,  surviving  him  sixteen  years. 

In  1652,  Dr.  Clarke  published  in  London  a  book 
styled  "III  Nezves  from  Neiv  England"  in  which  he 
introduced  the  substance  of  a  tract  issued  in  1651, 
touching  New  England  and  particularly  Rhode  Island, 
in  which  he  discourses  on  the  occasion  of  his  going 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  17 

out  with  others  from  Massachusetts  Bay.  As  this 
record  of  Dr.  Clarke  is  the  first  reUable  statement  of 
a  participant  in  the  events  he  relates  it  is  worthy  of 
special  attention  here. 

"In  the  year  1637  I  left  my  native  land,  and  in  the 
ninth  month  of  the  same,  I  (through  mercy)  arrived 
in  Boston.  I  was  no  sooner  on  shore,  but  there  ap- 
peared to  me  differences  among  them  touching  the 
covenants,  and  in  points  of  evidencing  a  man's  good 
estate,  some  prest  hard  for  the  Covenant  of  works, 
and  for  santicification  to  be  the  first  and  chief  evi- 
dences; others  prest  as  hard  for  the  Covenant  of 
grace  that  was  established  upon  better  promises,  and 
for  the  evidence  of  the  spirit,  as  that  which  is  a  more 
certain,  constant  and  satisfactory  witness.  I  thought 
it  not  strange  to  see  men  differ  about  matters  of 
Heaven,  for  I  expect  no  less  upon  Earth.  But  to  see 
that  they  were  not  able  so  to  bear  with  others  in  their 
diflerent  understandings  and  consciences,  as  in  these 
uttermost  parts  of  the  world  to  live  peaceably  to- 
gether, whereupon  I  moved  the  latter,  for  as  much  as 
the  land  was  before  us  and  wide  enough  with  the 
profer  of  Abraham  to  Lot,  and  for  peace  sake,  to 
turn  aside  to  the  right  hand  or  to  the  left.  The  motion 
was  readily  accepted  and  I  was  requested  with  some 
others  to  seek  out  a  place  which  I  was  ready  to  do; 
and  thereupon  by  reason  of  the  suffocating  heat  of  the 
Summer  before,  I  went  to  the  North  to  be  somewhat 


78  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

cooler,  but  the  Winter  following  proved  so  cold,  that 
we  were  forced  in  the  Spring  to  make  towards  the 
South;  so  having  sought  the  Lord  for  direction,  we 
all  agreed  that  while  our  vessel  was  passing  about  a 
large  and  dangerous  Cape,  we  would  cross  over  by 
land,  having  Long  Hand  and  Deleware-Bay  in  our 
eie  for  the  place  of  our  residence ;  so  to  a  town  called 
Providence  we  came,  which  was  begun  by  one  M. 
Roger  Williams  (who  for  matter  of  conscience  had 
not  long  before  been  exiled  from  the  former  juris- 
diction) by  whom  we  were  courteously  and  lovingly 
received,  and  with  whom  we  advised  about  our  de- 
sign ;  he  readily  presented  two  places  before  us  in  the 
same  Naragansets  Bay,  the  one  upon  the  main  called 
Sozvzvames,  the  other  called  then  Acquedneck,  now 
Rodc-Iland ;  we  enquired  whether  they  would  fall  in 
any  other  Patent,  for  our  resolution  was  to  go  out  of 
them  all ;  he  told  us  (to  be  brief)  that  the  way  to  know 
that,  was  to  have  recourse  unto  Plymouth;  so  our 
Vessell  as  yet  not  being  come  about,  and  we  thus 
blockt  up,  the  company  determined  to  send  to 
Plymouth,  and  pitcht  upon  two  others  together  with 
myself,  requesting  also  M.  Williams  to  go  to 
Plymouth  to  know  how  the  case  stood;  so  we  did;  and 
the  Magistrates  thereof  very  lovingly  gave  us  a  meet- 
ing ;  I  then  informed  them  of  the  cause  of  our  coming 
unto  them,  and  desired  them  in  a  word  of  truth  and 
faithfulness  to  inform  us  whether  Sozv-wames  were 
within  their  Patent,  for  we  were  now  on  the  wing,  and 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  79 

were  resolved  through  the  help  of  Christ,  to  get  cleer 
of  all,  and  be  of  ourselves,  and  provided  our  way  were 
cleer  before  us,  it  were  all  one  for  us  to  go  further 
off,  as  to  remain  neer  at  hand;  their  answer  was,  that 
SoTV-zvames  was  the  garden  of  their  Patent,  and  the 
flour  in  the  garden ;  then  I  told  them  we  could  not 
desire  it :  but  requested  further  in  the  like  word  of 
truth  and  faithfulness  to  be  informed  whether  they 
laid  claim  to  the  Hands  in  the  Naraganset  Bay,  and 
that  in  particular  called  Acquedneck?  they  all  with 
a  cheerful  countenance  made  us  this  answer,  it  was 
in  their  thoughts  to  have  advised  us  thereto,  and  if 
the  provident  hand  of  God  should  pitch  us  thereon 
they  should  look  upon  as  free,  and  as  loving  neigh- 
bours and  friends  should  be  assistant  unto  us  upon 
the  main,  &c.  So  we  humbly  thanked  them,  and  re- 
turned with  that  answer:  So  it  pleased  the  Lord, 
by  moving  the  hearts  of  the  natives,  even  the  chiefest 
thereof,  to  pitch  us  thereon,  and  by  other  occurrences 
of  providence,  which  are  too  large  here  to  relate :  So 
that  having  bought  them  off  to  their  full  satisfaction, 
we  have  possessed  the  place  ever  since ;  and  notwith- 
standing the  different  understandings  and  consciences 
amongst  us,  without  interruption  we  agree  to  main- 
tain civil  Justice  and  judgment,  neither  are  there  such 
outrages  committed  mongst  us  as  in  other  parts  of 
the  Country  are  frequently  seen." 

Dr.  Clarke's  convictions  as  to  the  rights  of  the  in- 
dividual conscience  in  religious  concerns  were  clear 


80  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

and  well  established.  He  was  also  clear  and  strong 
as  to  full  liberty  in  civil  affairs.  For  these  reasons 
he  at  once  allied  himself  with  the  Hutchinson  party 
on  his  arrival  in  Boston,  and  therefor  was  refused 
a  residence  and  disarmed,  with  others,  by  the  order 
of  the  General  Court. 

We  here  note  one  of  those  remarkable  events  in 
history  where  there  is  a  conjunction  of  the  man  and 
the  hour.  The  Bay  Colony  has  drawn  the  sharp  line 
of  division  and  dismemberment  and  has  proceeded 
to  discipline  the  offending  citizens,  not  in  harmony 
with  the  Theocracy.  Deacons  Coggeshall  and  Aspin- 
wall  of  the  First  Church,  recently  elected  represen- 
tatives of  the  General  Court,  are  expelled  from  the 
Legislature,  for  their  religious  opinions.  Codding- 
ton  is  defeated  as  Assistant  for  the  same  reason, — an 
office  he  has  held  since  1630.  Governor  Harry  Vane, 
a  strong  supporter  of  Mrs.  Hutchinson,  has  gone 
down  to  defeat  before  the  clerical  party  of  the  colony 
and  has  left  Boston  for  the  home  land,  never  to  re- 
turn. A  religious  war  is  on.  A  civil  war  is  feared 
and  the  homes  of  the  people  are  invaded  by  the  Act 
of  Disarmament.  Such  experiences  as  these  were 
soul-trying  to  the  people  of  Boston,  especially  to 
those  who  composed  the  party  of  protest.  Exile 
stares  the  Hutchinson  party  in  the  face.  Homes, 
just  built,  must  be  given  up.  Property  sacrificed. 
Business  interests  destroyed.     Family  and  social  ties 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  81 

must  be  surrendered.  A  new  wilderness  must  be  in- 
vaded. Savage  hospitality  again  be  invoked.  New 
foundations  must  be  laid  which  shall  give  security  to 
property,  life,  liberty,  civil  and  spiritual.  The  exodus 
period  is  at  hand.  Who  shall  be  the  leader  of  God's 
chosen  flock  from  the  bondage  of  the  Bay  Colony? 

The  man  is  at  hand.  It  is  Dr.  John  Clarke,  fresh 
from  the  clerical  and  medical  studies  of  the  liberal 
University  of  Leyden,  and  thoroughly  inoculated 
with  the  spirit  of  Democracy  of  the  Baptists  of  Hol- 
land. He  is  in  his  twenty-ninth  year, — a  strong,  stal- 
wart fellow, — over  six  feet  in  height,  magnetic, — en- 
thusiastic,— having  a  judicial  mind, — a  calm  temper, 
— a  bold  and  resolute  will.  He  arrives  in  Boston 
when  the  town  is  stirred  as  never  before  or  since,  in 
a  contest  for  the  emancipation  of  the  soul  of  man 
from  the  chains  of  a  spiritual  bondage.  A  freeman 
himself,  he  at  once  casts  in  his  lot  with  advocates  and 
disciples  of  a  liberal  Democracy,  and  at  once  is  chosen 
their  new  leader  and  proposes  the  formation  of  a  new 
state  in  a  new  land,  free  from  the  galling  bonds  of 
their  present  conditions,  in  the  Bay  Colony.  On  the 
shoulders  of  such  a  leader,  at  such  a  juncture,  is  the 
chief  responsibility  placed  of  seeking  a  place  of  refuge 
and  rest  for  a  people  whose  hearts  were  set  on  civil 
and  soul  freedom. 

Dr.  Clarke  tells  us  in  "111  Newes  from  New 
England"  the  state  of  affairs  at  Boston,  on  his  ar- 


82  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

rival  in  November,  1637.  He  states  that  he  moved 
for  choosing  a  new  location  for  a  new  Colony  and 
that  the  motion  being  readily  accepted,  he  with  others 
were  requested  to  seek  out  a  place,  without  the  juris- 
diction of  any  Colony.  The  story  of  the  choice  of 
Aquidneck  is  best  told  by  Dr.  Clarke,  himself: — "By 
reason  of  the  suffocating  heat  of  the  summer  before 
(1637),  I  went  to  the  North  to  be  somewhat  cooler, 
but  the  winter  following  proved  so  cold  ( 1637-8),  that 
we  were  forced  in  the  spring  to  make  towards  the 
South." 

Concerning  Dr.  Clarke's  services  in  the  founding 
of  Portsmouth  and  Newport,  the  details  will  be  told 
in  the  chapters  relating  to  those  towns.  It  is  sufficient 
here  to  state  that  he  was  the  recognized  founder  and 
father  of  the  Aquidneck  Plantations,  the  author  of 
the  Compact  of  Portsmouth  and  the  adviser  and  lead- 
ing spirit  in  the  organization  and  administration  of 
the  island  towns.  While  he  was  an  adherent  of  the 
school  of  Anne  Hutchinson,  he  was  not  a  blind  fol- 
lower, but  held  fast  to  the  Baptist  faith  and  carried 
on  public  worship  at  Newport,  until  in  1644,  he  or- 
ganized a  church  "on  the  scheme  and  principles  of 
the  Baptists."  Callender  states  that  there  were  fif- 
teen male  members  in  1648,  their  names  being  John 
Clarke,  his  brothers  Joseph  and  Thomas,  Mark  Lukas, 
Nathaniel  West,  William  Vaughan,  John  Peckham, 
John  Thornton,  William  Weeden,  and  Samuel  Hub- 
bard.    Dr.  Clarke  was  the  minister  and  teacher  of 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  83 

this  church  until  his  death,  with  the  exception  of  the 
years  1652-1663,  while  absent  in  London  on  Colonial 
business.  It  bears  the  name  of  the  First  Baptist 
John  Clarke  Memorial  Church  of  Newport  and  has 
held  the  doctrines  of  the  Particular  or  Calvinist  Bap- 
tists from  its  founding  until  the  present  time.  Sev- 
eral Baptist  churches  of  differing  opinions  have 
sprung  from  the  mother  church  at  Newport.  The  old 
church, — claimed  by  many  and  with  much  of  truth 
and  justice  in  the  claim,  as  the  oldest  orthodox  Baptist 
church  in  America, — is  still  true  to  its  traditions  and 
history  and  will  preserve,  with  increasing  interest  as 
the  years  come  and  go,  the  name  and  the  fame  of  its 
distinguished  Founder, — Dr.  John  Clarke. 

In  the  year  1652,  a  book  appeared  in  London, 
printed  by  Henry  Hills  living  in  Fleet-Yard,  next 
door  to  the  Race  and  Crown,  written  by  John  Clarke, 
Physician  of  Rhode  Island  in  America.  Its  title  was 
"III  Nezves  from  Nezv  Egland  or  a  Narrative  of  New 
England's  Persecution..  Wherein  is  Declared  that 
while  Old  England  is  becoming  new,  New  England  is 
becoming  old."  This  book  had  for  its  motive  the  re- 
markable story  of  the  trials  of  Dr.  John  Clarke, 
Obadiah  Holmes  and  John  Crandall,  freemen  of  the 
Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck  and  members 
of  the  Baptist  church  of  Newport,  and  according  to 
the  title  of  the  Narrative  is  "A  Faithful  and  True 
Relation  of  the  Prosecution  of  Obadiah  Holmes,  John 
Crandall,   and  John  Clarke,  merely   for  Conscience 


84  The  Story  op  Dr.  John  Ci^arke. 

towards  God,  by  the  Principal  Members  of  the 
Church,  or  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  in  New 
England,  which  rules  over  that  part  of  the  world." 
As  one  reads  the  story,  it  is  found  to  be  a  real  case 
of  persecution  for  the  sake  of  religion  and  involves 
in  the  clearest  fashion  the  principle  of  soul  liberty. 
Dr.  Clarke  uses  the  distressing  experiences  of  the 
party  to  illustrate  the  full  meaning  of  suffering  for 
a  religious  conscience  and  introduces  eight  logical 
and  scriptural  "arguments  against  persecution  for 
case  of  Conscience."  The  work  shows  the  bright 
figure  of  religious  liberty  portrayed  on  the  dark  back- 
ground of  Massachusetts'  intolerance, — the  spirit  of 
John  Clarke  of  Newport  in  contrast  with  that  of  Gov- 
ernor John  Endicott  of  the  Bay  Colony. 

The  story  reads  like  one  of  the  historic  books  of 
the  old  Hebrew  Scriptures.  "It  came  to  pass  that 
we  three  (Obadiah  Holmes,  John  Crandall  and  John 
Clarke),  by  the  good  hand  of  our  God,  came  into  the 
Massachusetts  Bay  upon  the  16  day  of  the  5th 
Moneth  (16)51 ;  and  upon  the  19th  of  the  same,  upon 
occasion  of  business,  we  came  unto  a  town  in  the  same 
Bay  called  Lin  (Lynn),  where  we  lodged  at  a  blind 
man's  house  neer  two  miles  out  of  the  Town,  by  name 
of  William  Witter,  who  being  baptized  unto  Christ 
waits,  as  we  also  doe,  for  the  Kingdom  of  God,  and 
the  full  consolation  of  the  Israel  of  God." 

On  the  20th  of  July,  Sunday,  Dr.  Clarke  preached 
at  Mr.  Witter's  house.  Witter  being  a  member  of  his 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  85 

church  at  Newport  and  too  infirm  to  attend  "the  Pub- 
like Assemblie."  To  this  service  at  Witter's,  "four 
or  five  strangers  came  in  unexpected."  During  the 
service,  two  constables  entered  the  house  and  with 
"clamorous  tongues"  interrupted  Dr.  Clarke's  dis- 
course, "more  uncivilly"  says  he,  "than  the  Pursi- 
vants  of  the  old  English  Bishops  were  wont  to  do." 
Their  Warrant  required  them  to  go  to  the  house  of 
William  Witter  and  to  search  from  house  to  house 
"for  certain  erronious  persons,  being  strangers;  and 
them  to  apprehend  and  in  safe  custody  to  keep  and 
tomorrow  morning  (Monday)  be  eight  of  the  Clock 
to  bring  before  me — .Robert  Bridges." 

The  offenders  were  watched  over  that  night  "as 
theeves  and  robbers"  and  being  brought  before  the 
magistrate  on  Monday,  were  committed  to  prison 
until  the  next  County  Court,  July  31.  "Without  pro- 
ducing either  accuser,  witness,  jury,  law  of  God,  or 
man,"  John  Clarke  was  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of 
twenty  pounds  "or  else  be  well  whipt."  Obadiah 
Holmes  was  to  pay  a  fine  of  "thirty  pounds  or  be  well 
whipt,"  and  John  Crandall  "five  pounds  or  be  well 
whipt," — Governor  John  Endicott  issuing  the  sen- 
tences. On  an  appeal  and  a  hearing  on  matters  of 
faith  and  conscience,  Dr.  Clarke  was  set  at  liberty  on 
the  11th  of  August,  1651.  Crandall  was  dismissed 
on  payment  of  his  fine.  Holmes  refused  to  pay  the 
fine  of  thirty  pounds  and  would  not  allow  his  friends 
to  pay  it  for  him,  saying  that  "to  pay  it  would  be 


86  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

acknowledging  himself  to  have  done  wrong,  whereas 
his  conscience  testified  that  he  had  done  right  and  he 
durst  not  accept  deliverance  in  such  a  way."  He  was 
accordingly  punished  with  thirty  lashes  from  a  three- 
corded  whip,  on  Boston  Common,  with  such  severity 
"that  in  many  days,  if  not  some  weeks,  he  could  take 
no  rest,  but  as  he  lay  upon  his  knees  and  elbows,  not 
being  able  to  suffer  any  part  of  his  body  to  touch  the 
bed  whereon  he  lay."  He  told  the  Magistrates,  "You 
have  struck  me  as  with  roses.  Although  the  Lord 
hath  made  it  easie  to  me,  yet  I  pray  God  it  may  not 
be  laid  to  your  charge."  On  the  death  of  Dr.  Clarke 
in  1676,  Mr.  Holmes,  a  martyr  for  Soul  Liberty,  suc- 
ceeded him  as  minister  of  the  First  Baptist  Church 
of  Newport.  It  is  an  easy  matter  to  write  books  on 
Soul-Liberty.  Easier  still,  is  it  to  profess  a  belief  in 
it.  The  rub  comes  when  an  officer  commits  to  an  old- 
time  Colonial  jail;  when  a  Governor  inflicts  cruel 
judgments,  and  when  an  unwilling  or  an  unfeeling 
Magistrate  extorts  heavy  fines  or  inflicts  public 
scourging  with  three  corded  whips,  with  teeth  of 
scorpions.  Better  proof  is  not  needed  of  the  depths 
and  sincerity  of  Aquidneck  men  in  the  doctrines  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  than  the  piety  and  patriot- 
ism of  Clarke,  Crandall  and  Holmes  of  Newport. 

Concerning  Dr.  Clarke's  service  in  the  Rhode 
Island  Colony,  his  work  in  and  for  the  Royal  Charter 
of  1663,  and  his  later  work,  the  story  will  be  told  in 
succeeding  chapters. 


THE  AQUIDNECK  PURCHASE.    1638 
COLONY  OF  RHODE  ISLAND,    1640 


The  Founding  of  Portsmouth.  87 


CHAPTER  VII. 

The  Founding  of  Portsmouth. 

The  plans  for  founding  a  new  colony,  as  prepared 
by  Dr.  John  Clarke  in  the  autumn  of  1637,  were 
matured  at  Boston  during  the  few  months  that  inter- 
vened before  the  act  of  practical  scission,  which  sent 
so  many  of  the  leading  and  influential  families  of 
Boston  into  exile  from  the  Bay  Colony.  Dr.  Clarke 
was  eminently  fitted  for  the  leadership  of  a  fresh 
enterprise  of  this  sort.  He  had  not  yet  made  a  settle- 
ment for  himself  and  family;  he  was  not  bound  by 
any  ties  of  association  or  relationship  with  Boston 
interests,  and  could  act  the  part  of  an  impartial  judge 
and  diplomat,  for  which  he  was  by  nature  and  educa- 
tion so  thoroughly  fitted.  Besides  his  liberal  edu- 
cation for  two  professions,  both  of  which  he  adorned, 
secured  for  him  the  full  confidence  of  all  the  dissent- 
ing body. 

Dr.  Clarke  has  already  told  us  in  his  own  language 
how  the  new  migration  was  led  to  choose  Aquidneck 
as  the  place  of  settlement  of  a  new  town, — it  was  out-  ^■    ^^ 

side  the  pale   of  any  existing  patent,   adjoining  a  \    /t 

friendly  people  in  Plymouth  Colony,  and  purchaseable  "^ 


%^<: 


■^^ 


88  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

from  the  Narragansetts.  In  this  purchase  as  well 
as  in  the  choice  of  location,  Mr.  Williams  acted  the 
hospitable,  the  friendly  part.  Concerning  the  pur- 
chase of  Aquidneck,  Mr.  Williams,  writing  in  1658, 
says,  "I  have  acknowledged  the  rights  and  properties 
of  every  inhabitant  of  Rhode  Island  (Aquidneck)  in 
peace;  yet,  since  there  is  so  much  sound  and  noise  of 
purchase  and  purchasers,  I  judge  it  not  unreason- 
able to  declare  the  rise  and  bottom  of  the  planting  of 
Rhode  Island  (Aquidneck)  in  the  fountain  of  it.  It 
was  not  price  nor  money  that  could  have  purchased 
Rhode  Island.  Rhode  Island  (Aquidneck)  was  ob- 
tained by  love ;  by  the  love  and  favor  which  that  hon- 
orable gentleman.  Sir  Henry  Vane  and  myself  had 
with  that  great  sachem  Miantonomi,  about  the  league 
which  I  procured  between  the  Massachusetts  English, 
etc.,  and  the  Narragansetts  in  the  Pequod  war.  It  is 
true  I  advised  a  gratuity  to  be  presented  to  the  sachem 
and  the  natives,  and  because  Mr.  Coddington  and  the 
rest  of  my  loving  countrymen  were  to  inhabit  the 
place  and  to  be  at  the  charge  of  the  gratuities,  I  drew 
up  a  writing  in  Mr.  Coddington' s  name,  and  in  the 
names  of  such  of  my  loving  countrymen  as  came  up 
with  him  and  put  it  into  as  sure  a  form  as  I  could  at 
that  time  (amongst  the  Indians)  for  the  benefit  and 
assurance  of  the  present  and  future  inhabitants  of 
the  island.  This  I  mention,  that  as  that  truly  noble 
Sir  Harry  Vane  hath  been  so  great  an  instrument  in 
the  hand  of  God  for  procuring  of  this  island  (Aquid- 


The  Founding  of  Portsmouth.  89 

neck)  from  the  barbarians,  as  also  for  procuring  and 
confirming  the  charter  (1644),  so  it  may  by  all  due 
thankful  acknowledgment  be  remembered  and  re- 
corded of  us  and  ours  which  reap  and  enjoy  the  sweet 
^  fruits  of  so  great  benefits  and  such  unheard  of  lib- 
erties amongst  us." 

The  interest  shown  by  Roger  Williams  towards  his 
"loving  countrymen"  was  duly  and  deeply  appreciated 
i  by  the  founder  of  Aquidneck  and  the  services  ren- 
•  dered  were  abundantly  repaid  when  in  securing  the 
charter  of  the  town  of  Providence,  in  1649,  the  form 
of  government  of  the  Rhode  Island  Colony  was  made 
the  pattern  in  the  first  organization  of  the  town  of 
Providence,  at  the  head  of  the  bay. 

It  appears  that  the  contract  between  Mr.  Codding- 
/ton  "and  his  friends"  and  Canonicus  and  Miantonomi, 
in  the  purchase  of  Aquidneck,  was  made  at  Provi- 
dence, soon  after  the  return  of  the  committee  from 
their  visit  tq  Myles  Standish  for  the  purchase  of  So- 
wams  (Barrington).  Acting  on  the  advice  of  the 
Plymouth  people  which  was  confirmed  by  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, Aquidneck  was  bought  and  Mr.  Williams  tells 
us  he  wrote  the  deed,  the  first  of  record  of  any  of 
the  lands  of  Rhode  Island,  for  actual  settlement.  As 
will  be  seen,  it  is  only  a  transfer  of  a  life  estate, 
although  it  was  esteemed  and  treated  as  a  warranty 
V instrument  by  both  parties.     It  is  as  follows: 


90  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Deed  from  Cannonicus  and  Miantunomu  chief 
sachems  of  the  Narragansetts,  of  the  purchase  of  the 
island  of  Aquidneck  (Rhode  Island)  to  William  Cod- 
dington  and  others.  March  24,  1637-38. 
The  24th  of  ye  1st  month  called  March,  in  ye  yeare 
(soe  commonly  called)  1637. 
»  Memorandum.  That  we  Cannonicus  andMian- 
tunomu  ye  two  sachims  of  the  Nanhiggansitts,  by 
vertue  of  our  generall  command  of  this  Bay,  as  allso 
the  perticular  subjectinge  of  the  dead  Sachims  of 
Acquednecke  and  Kitackamuckqutt,  themselves  and 
land  unto  us,  have  sold  unto  Mr.  Coddington  and  his 
friends  united  unto  him,  the  great  Island  of  Acqued- 
necke lyinge  from  hence  Eastward  in  this  Bay,  as 
allso  the  marsh  or  grasse  upon  Quinunicutt  and  the 
rest  of  the  Islands  in  the  Bay  (excepting  Chibacu- 
wesa  (Prudence)  formerly  sould  unto  Mr.  Winthrop, 
the  now  Governour  of  the  Massachusetts  and  Mr. 
Williams  of  Providence;  allso  the  grasse  upon  the 
rivers  and  coves  about  Kitickamuckqutt  and  from 
there  to  Paupausquatch,  for  the  full  payment  of  forty 
fpi-Vjnrn_pf  'adlits.beads,  to  be  equally  divided  between 
us.     In  witness  whereof  we  have  here  subscribed. 

Item.  That  by  giveinge  Miantunnomus  ten  coates 
and  twenty  howes  to  the  present  inhabitants,  they 
shall  remove  themselves  from  ofl  the  Island  before 
next  winter. 

This  deed  was  signed  by  the  two  sachems  and  wit- 
nessed by  Roger  Williams  and  Randall  Holden. 


The  Founding  of  Portsmouth.  91 

A  fathom  of  white  beads  varied  in  value,  at  dif- 
ferent periods,  from  five  to  ten  shillings.  Forty 
fathoms  of  white  beads  were  equal  to  between  two 
hundred  and  four  hundred  shillings,  the  equivalent 
in  American  coin  of  l^etween  fifty  and  one  hundred 
dollarsj  We  sometimes  satisfy  our  consciences  with 
the  reflection  that  our  ancestors  paid  the  Indians  for 
their  lands  but  there  must  be  a  slight  misgiving  when 
we  consider  the  fact  that  all  the  islands  in  our  bay 
save  one,  were  bought  and  paid  for  at  so  small  a  cost. 
But  then  they  paid  all  that  the  poor  red  man  asked 
and  the  bargain  was  a  fair  one.  How  could  they 
have  paid  more? 

But  there  was  still  larger  consideration,  for  Wana- 
mataunemit,  sachem  of  Aquidneck,  acknowledges 
to  five  fathom  of  white  wampum  for  his  interest  in 
the  Islands.  On  the  6th  of  the  fifth  month  (July) 
Massassoit  freely  consents  and  grants  to  "Mr.  Cod- 
dington  and  his  English  friends  united  to  him  the  use 
of  any  grasse  or  trees  on  ye  maine  land  on  Powa- 
kasick  (Tiverton)  side"  for  five  fathom  of  wampum. 
On  the  11th  of  May,  1639,  "Mr.  Coddington  and  his 
friends  united"  to  pay  to  Miantonomi  ten  fathoms  of 
beads,  for  his  "paines  and  travell  in  removing  the 
natives  oflf  of  the  Island  of  Aquidneck." 

On  the  22nd  of  November,  1639,  Miantonomi  re- 
ceipted to  Mr.  Coddington  and  his  friends  united, 
twenty-three  coats  and  thirteen  hoes  to  distribute  to 


92  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

the  Indians  that  did  inhabit  Aquidneck  "in  full  of 
all  promises,  debts  and  demands  for  the  said  Island, 
and  allso  two  tarkepes."     These  several  payments  in 

(  beads  and  other  valuables  constitute  the  full  consid- 

^  eration  for  the  Aquidneck  purchase. 

Under  date,  of  April  14,  1652,  Mr.  Coddington  re- 
lates that  before  leaving  Boston  in  1638,  there  was  an 
agreement  of  eighteen  persons  to  make  purchase  of 
some  place  to  the  southward  for  a  Plantation, 
whither  they  resolved  to  remove  and  that  "some  of 
them  were  sent  out  to  view  a  place  for  themselves  and 
such  others  as  they  should  take  in  to  the  libertie  of 
freemen  and  purchasers  with  them.  And  upon  their 
view  was  purchased  Rhode  Island,  with  some  small 
neighboring  islands  and  privileges  of  grasse  and 
wood  of  the  islands  in  the  Bay  and  maine  adjoyninge." 
At  this  date  he  delivers  up  the  deeds  of  the  purchases 
and  the  records  to  the  proper  authorities,  holding  in 
V     his  own  right  and  title  only  his  own  proportion. 

On  the  27th  of  September,  1677,  Mr.  Coddington 
enters  on  the  public  records  that  when  he  was  one 
of  the  magistrates  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony, 
"he  was  one  of  the  persons  that  made  a  peace  with 
Caunnonnicus  and  Mianantonomy  in  the  Collony's 
behalfe  of  all  the  Narragansett  Indians,  and  by  order 
from  the  authoritie  of  the  Massachusetts  a  little  be- 
fore they  made  war  with  the  Pequod  Indians." 


The  Founding  of  Portsmouth.  93 

/  Here  then  we  have  the  combined  statements  of 
T)r.  John  Clarke,  Roger  Williams  and  William  Cod- 
dington  that  a  plan  was  formed  in  Boston  for  the 
establishment  of  a  new  Plantation  to  the  southward ; 
that  eighteen  persons  assumed  the  business  of  select- 
ing and  purchasing  lands  for  the  new  Plantation; 
that  through  the  acquaintance  of  jNIr.  Coddington, 
Mr.  Williams  and  Sir  Harry  Vane  with  Canonicus 
and  Miantonomi,  chief  sachems  of  the  Narragan- 
setts,  Aquidneck  and  several  other  islands  in  Narra- 
gansett  Bay  were  purchased  for  money  and  other 
valuable  considerations  and  deeded  to  Mr.  Codding- 
ton and  his  associates,  in  March,  1638,  to  the  full  and 
complete  satisfaction  of  all  parties  concerned.     Here 
we  are  assured  that  the  Aquidneck  lands,  although 
purchased  for  what  in  our  time  seems  a  trifle,  were 
not  an  "Indian  steal"  or  "land  grab,"  but  an  honest 
and  an  honorable  transaction,  from  which  no  trouble 
ever  arose  afterward,  either  between  the  parties  to 
the  contract  or  between  the  Colonists  as  owners, 
either  as  to  the  validity  of  the  land  titles  or  the  rela- 
tive rights  of  the  settlers  who  occupied  the  lands  and 
paid  their  proportion  for  their  individual  estates.  Too 
great  emphasis  cannot  be  laid  upon  the  fact  that  the 
Aquidneck  purchase  was  not  a  proprietary,  held  in  the 
interests  of  a  few  or  of  one  man,  but  was,  at  the  out- 
set, bought  in  fee  simple  by  a  group  of  persons  and 
deeded  in  ie£,_simple  to  the  persons  who  became 
settlers  within  the  towns  and  Colony  established  on 


94  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

the  purchase, — warranty  deeds  being  given  and  re- 
corded within  a  short  time  after  the  original  settle- 
ment was  made  at  Pocasset,  in   163§r'^  Still  more, 
this  body  of  purchasers  represented  a  great  body  of 
people  or  families,  who,  exercised  in  the  doctrine  of 
civil  and  soul  freedom  at  Boston,  had  calmly  and  de- 
liberately planned  a  new  foundation,  in  accord  with 
their  united  convictions,  and  for  the  accomplishment 
of  these  ends  had  bought  a  territory,  on  which  to 
plant  and  develop  institutions  and  homes,  on  the  lines 
of  a  new  civil,  social  and  religious  polity.     We  now 
find  our  Aquidneck  Colonists  dealing  with  realty  in 
a  manner  which  shows  their  high  appreciation  of  the 
possession  and  full  ownership  of  real  estate,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  principles  and  under  the  forms  of 
/    /  well   established   English   laws.     Socialism   or   com- 
/  munity  ownership  of  land  was  not  regarded  an  essen- 
/     tial  element  of  Democracy.     Individual  ownership  of 
\     real  estate  was  the  basis  of  the  family  fortune,  trans- 
mitted from  generation  to  generation.     Its  possession 
foreran  the  erection  of  houses  and  the  cultivation  of 
'the  fields.     Among  the  first  acts  of  the  townspeople 
at  Portsmouth  was  the  assignment  of  lots  and  a  public 
record  of  the  location  and  owner.     On  the  20th  of 
May,  1638,  at  Portsmouth,  "it  is  ordered  and  agreed 
upon  that  every  man's  allottment  recorded  in  this 
Book  shall  be  his  sufficient  evidence  for  him  and  his, 
rightly  to  possess  and  enjoy." 


The  Founding  of  Portsmouth.  95 

Mr.  John  Coggeshall,  Mr.  John  Sanford  and  Mr. 
John  Porter  were  ordered  to  allot  the  lands  to  the 
owners.  The  price  of  land  was  fixed  at  two  shillings 
per  acre,  "one-half  presently,  and  the  other  half  at 
the  end  of  three  months."  Mr.  John  Clarke,  Mr. 
Jeffries,  John  Porter  and  Richard  Burden  were 
ordered  to  "survey  all  the  lands  near  abouts  and 
bring  in  a  Mapp  or  Plott  of  all  the  said  lands."  In 
the  year  1640,  March  1,  Nicholas  Brown  conveyed 
forty-five  acres  of  land  to  John  Wood  by  a  warranty 
deed  and  about  the  same  date  Samuel  Gorton  con- 
veyed to  Philip  Sherman,  seven  acres  by  the  same  title. 

With  fixed  land  values,  attached  to  land  records, 
civil  society  has  a  real  basis  of  equitable  taxation, 
without  which  to  provide  for  the  general  needs  of 
society  no  progress  is  possible  along  lines  for  civic 
betterment.  Without  taxable  property,  real  and  per- 
sonal, upon  which  a  just  rate  of  assessment  may  be 
levied  no  body  of  people  can  possess  coherency  or 
claim  autonomy.  Public  service  can  be  built  on 
revenue  only,. and  in  order  to  ensure  the  proper  ends 
of  organized  society,  the  subjects  of  a  state  must  con- 
tribute as  nearly  as  possible  in  proportion  to  their  re- 
spective abilities.  Taxation  is  an  essential  to  the 
social  order  and  to  civil  government.  The  Aquid- 
neck  Colony  recognized  this  in  titular  possession  of 
estates,  in  record  evidence  and  in  the  assessment  of 
taxes  to  meet  public  needs.  It  is  clearly  manifest 
that  in  the  undertaking  of  a  new  Plantation  in  New 


\ 


96  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

England,  there  was  motive,  forethought,  experience 
in  government,  organization  and  resources  in  so  large 
a  measure  of  efficiency  to  establish  the  Primacy  of 
the  Aquidneck  Colony  in  all  matters  pertaining  there- 
to. The  general  reader,  the  political  economist 
and  the  historian,  will  note  that  land  estates,  land 
records  and  taxation  are  chief  corner  stones  in  the 
foundation  of  a  Democratic  state. 

\j        THE  PORTSMOUTH   COMPACT. 

Prior  to  leaving  Boston,  a  compact  was  drawn  up, 
under  date  of  March  7,  1638,  by  which  a  number  of 
the  leading  men  of  the  proposed  Colony  incorporated 
themselves  into  "A  Bodie  Politik"  to  the  end  that  they 
might  go  to  their  new  Plantation  in  a  formal  organi- 
zation, under  a  chosen  leader  or  Governor. 

^  The  compact  is  as  follows: 

The  7th  Day  of  the  First  Month,  1638. 

We  whose  names  are  underwritten  do  hereby 
solemnly  in  the  presence  of  Jehovah  incorporate  our- 
selves into  a  Bodie  Politick  and  as  He  shall  help,  will 
submit  our  persons,  lives  and  estates  unto  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  the  King  of  Kings,  and  Lord  of  Lords, 
and  to  all  those  perfect  and  most  absolute  laws  of 
His  given  in  His  Holy  Word  of  truth,  to  be  guided 
and  judged  thereby. 


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PORTSMOUTH   COMPACT.    MARCH    7.    1638 


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The  Founding  of  Portsmouth.  97 

Exodus,  24c.,  3:4. 

II  Cron.,  lie,  3. 

II  Kings,  11:17. 
William  Coddington,  William  Dyre, 

John  Clarke,  AMlliam  Freeborne, 

William  Hutchinson,  Jr.,  Philip  Shearman, 

John  Coggeshall,  John  Walker, 

William  Aspinwall,  Richard  Carder, 

Samuel  Wilbore,  William  Baulston. 

John  Porter,  Edward  Hutchinson,  Sr., 

John  Sanford.  Henry  +  Bull, 

Edward  Hutchinson,  Jr.,  Esq.,  Randall  Holden. 
Thomas  Savage, 

This  compact  was  signed  originally  by  twenty- 
three  persons.  The  original  paper  is  in  the  keeping 
of  the  Secretary  of  State,  at  the  State  House,  Provi- 
dence, a  photograph  of  which  appears  on  the  opposite 
page.  Four  names, — Thomas  Clarke,  brother  of 
John,  John  Johnson,  William  Hall  and  John  Bright- 
man,  Esq., — follow  the  nineteen  that  appear  above. 
Erasure  marks  have  been  made  over  these  names, 
the  reason  for  which  it  is  not  easy  to  understand  as 
the  first  three  were  among  the  first  recorded  settlers 
of  Newport,  and  Mr.  Brightman  may  have  been. 

This  compact  holds  the  same  relation  to  the  Aquid- 
neck  Colony  that  the  Declaration  of  the  Pilgrim 
Fathers,  made  and  signed  in  the  cabin  of  the  May- 
flower, had  to  the  Pilgrim  State  at  Plymouth,  Mass. 


98  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Ci<arke. 

Neither  was  a  Constitution  nor  a  Bill  of  Rights  for  a 
Colony.  Boston  called  the  compact  an  act  of  incor- 
poration. Plymouth  called  theirs  a  covenant.  Bos- 
ton did  the  act  in  "the  presence  of  Jehovah," 
Plymouth  wrote  "in  the  presence  of  God."  Boston 
formed  a  "Bodie  Politick."  Plymouth  called  theirs 
a  "Civill  Bodie  Politick."  Boston  submitted  their 
"persons,  lives  and  estates  unto  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."*  *  *  *  *  "And  to  all  those  perfect  and  most 
absolute  lawes  of  His  given  us  in  His  Holy  word  of 
truth,  to  be  guided  and  judged  thereby."  Plymouth 
promised  submission  and  obedience  to  such  "just  and 
equal  lawes,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions  and  of- 
fices" as  might  be  enacted,  constituted  and  framed. 
Each  compact  had  for  its  purpose  the  formation  of  a 
civil  state  under  an  orderly  government.  The  Boston 
paper  was  probably  written  by  Dr.  John  Clarke,  whose 
piety  and  purpose  lent  a  strongly  religious  sentiment 
to  the  document,  so  much  so  that  some  historians 
have  called  it  theocratic.  But  Dr.  Clarke  did  not 
classify  The  Christ  as  a  theocrat,  for  all  his  writings 
make  the  great  Teacher  the  interpreter  of  a  new  De- 
mocracy in  which  soul-liberty  is  established  and  en- 
forced. 

Samuel  G.  Arnold,  our  Rhode  Island  historian,  has 
given  a  very  clear  and  just  interpretation  of  the 
Portsmouth  Compact.  He  says,  "So  prominent  in- 
deed is  the  religious  character  of  this  instrument, 
that  it  has  by  some  been  considered,  although  erron- 


The  Founding  of  Portsmouth.  99 

eously,  as  being  itself  'a  church  covenant,  which  also 
embodied  a  civil  compact.'  Their  plans  were  more 
matured  than  those  of  the  Providence  settlers.  To 
establish  a  Colony  independent  of  every  other  was 
their  avowed  intention,  and  the  organization  of  a 
regular  government  was  their  initial  step.  That 
their  object  was  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  Christian 
state,  where  all  who  bore  the  name  might  worship 
God  according  to  the  dictates  of  conscience,  untram- 
melled by  written  articles  of  faith,  and  unawed  by  the 
civil  power,  is  proved  by  their  declarations  and  by 
their  subsequent  conduct."  *  *  *  * 

"The  Aquidneck  settlements  for  many  years  in- 
creased, more  rapidly  than  those  on  the  main  land. 
The  occasions  appear  to  have  been,  for  the  most  part, 
from  a  superior  class  in  point  of  education  and  social 
standing,  which  for  more  than  a  century  secured  to 
\them  a  controlling  influence  in  the  Colony.  Many  of 
the  leading  men  were  more  imbued  with  the  Puritan^ 
spirit,  acquired  by  their  longer  residence  in  Massa- 
chusetts, which  sympathized  somewhat  more  with  the 
law  than  with  the  liberty  of  the  embryo  state.  It  is 
foreshadowed  in  the  compact  and  in  a  few  years  was 
realized,  in  action.  It  had  its  advantages,  however, 
and  the  chief  of  these  were  it  enabled  the  people  at 
once  to  organize  a  government  and  strengthened  them  \ 
to  preserve  it  better  than  those  of  Providence,  while 
it  also  was  a  means  of  securing  and  extending  their 


100         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

influence  over  the  other  settlements,  who  looked  up 
to  them  in  many  things,  and  received  from  them  their 
first  code  of  laws." 


f, 


The  Portsmouth  Compact  was  of  the  nature  of  a 
municipal  charter.  It  stated  in  very  general  terms 
its  purpose, — the  formation  of  a  civil  government, — 
"a  Bodie  Politick."  It  also  declared,  in  the  most 
emphatic  words,  that  the  state  to  be  organized  was  to 
be  one  of  just  laws,  founded  on  Christian  principles, 
and  administered  by  upright  men  in  harmony  with 
those  purposes  and  principles.  The  policy  of  the 
civil  life  of  the  new  state  was  to  be  made  manifest  in 
the  powers  conferred  and  possessed  by  the  members, 
in  the  character  of  the  men  chosen  for  office  and  in 
the  functions  and  operations  of  the  community  life. 
/The  general  corporate  powers  involve  civil  freedom 
I  with  religious  liberty.  Will  the  new  Commonwealth 
be  true  to  its  general  declaration?  If  it  is,  it  will 
become  first  among  nations  in  the  declaration  and  en- 
forcement of  the  rights  of  universal  freedom. 
V 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     101 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making. 

/  The  Portsmouth  Compact,  in  its  brief  seventy 
'words,  involves  several  cardinal  doctrines  of  a  free 
state,  the  elucidation  and  illustration  of  which  are 
made  apparent  in  the  development  of  the  two  towns, 
Portsmouth  and  Newport,  as  well  as  in  their  union  as 
the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck. 

/  The  first  of  these  doctrines  is  that  of  self-govern- 
ment, on  which  our  several  states  and  our  Republic 
have  been  built.  The  founders  of  Portsmouth 
acknowledged  no  human  authority  as  their  superior. 
They  submitted  their  "persons,  lives  and  estates  unto 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  and  to  Him  alone.  It  is 
manifest  that  freedom, — personal,  civil  and  spiritual, 
was  bound  up  in  the  doctrine  of  self-government. 
The  denial  of  religious  liberty  in  a  community  of  self- 
governing  citizens,  would  be  a  contradiction  of  rights 
and,  it  will  appear,  in  all  the  subsequent  history  of 
the  Aquidneck  Colony,  that  there  was  never  an  in- 
stance of  the  abridgment  of  the  liberties  of  the 
people  in  civil  or  soul  concerns,  except  in  restraint 
of  criminal  acts.     So  thorough  was  the  Declaration 


102         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

of  Independence  imbedded  in  the  minds  of  these  Cor- 
porators, that  they  ignored  Colonial  relations  with  the 
mother  land,  and,  so  far  as  our  studies  entitle  us  to 
an  opinion,  hereby  constituted  and  ordained  the  first 
free  state  in  the  world,  organized  by  a  body  of  free- 
men, independent  of  church  or  Colonial  obligations. 

A  second  doctrine  is  this  that  the  civil  state  is  the 
^ns.,-un,ent  through  and  by  which  se,f-gover„„,e„t 
shall  be  secured  and  assured.  The  Portsmouth  people, 
in  the  establishment  of  the  first  doctrine,  must  in- 
corporate themselves  "into  a  Bodie  Politick"  for  the 
very  end  and  purpose  of  maintaining  self-government. 
A  community,  unincorporated,  is  a  heap  of  sand, 
blown  about  by  every  wind  of  doctrine,  a  rope  of  sand 
with  no  bonds  to  hold  it  together.  The  entity  of  a 
A,  state  rests  on  the  indissoluble  bonds  of  social  and  civic 
unity,  expressed  in  legal  form  and  enduring  prin- 
ciples. 

A  third  doctrine  of  immense  value  is  the  legitimacy 
and  supremacy  of  law  and  the  necessity  of  the  civil 
magistrate  as  the  right  arm  of  the  civil  state  for  the 
enforcement  of  law  and  the  protection  of  society.  The 
Portsmouth  Compact  idealizes  common  law  and  the 
ancient  English  codes,  after  the  style  of  the  Hebrew 
lawgivers,  by  the  expression  of  hyperbole,  "Those 
perfect  and  most  absolute  laws  of  His  given  us  in  His 
Holy  Word  of  Truth,  to  be  judged  and  guided  there- 
by."   There  is  no  doubt  of  the  sincerity  and  honesty 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     103 

of  the  declaration  and  we  can  but  admire  the  noble 
self-consecration  of  this  new  state — the  purpose  of 
the  human  to  approximate  toward  the  Divine.  "Not 
failure  but  low  aim  is  crime."  That  self  government, 
civil  and  religious  freedom,  obedience  to  law  and  full 
submission  to  magistracy  were  the  basic  supports  of 
the  Portsmouth  Compact  and  the  Rhode  Island 
Colony,  we  have  but  to  refer  to  the  letter  of  Dr.  John 
Clarke,  agent  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island,  to 
Charles  the  Second  in  1662.  Rhode  Island  Colonial 
Records,  Vol  1,  pp.  485,  et  seq.  "Your  petitioners 
were  necessitated  long  since  for  cause  of  conscience, 
with  respect  to  the  worship  and  service  of  God  to 
take  up  a  resolution  to  quit  their  deare  and  native 
country  and  all  their  near  and  precious  relations  and 
enjoyments  therein,  and  to  expose  themselves  and 
their  families  to  all  the  hazards  and  inconveniences 
which  they  might  meete  upon  the  vast  and  swelling 
ocean  over  which  they  should  pass,  or  in  the  bar- 
barous and  howling  wilderness  to  which  they  might 
come."  *  *  *  *  "Where  for  the  aforesaid  causes  of 
conscience  and  for  peace  sake  they  were  also  neces- 
sitated to  travail  further  among  the  barbarians  in 
places  untrod  and  with  no  small  hazard  to  seek  out 
a  place  of  habitation  (Aquidneck),  where,  according 
to  what  was  propounded  in  your  petitioners  first  ad- 
venture, they  might  with  freedome  of  conscience 
worship  the  Lord  their  God  as  they  were  persuaded." 


104         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Dr.  Clarke  tells  the  King  that  his  Pilgrim  band  was 
guided  by  the  Most  High  "to  steere  their  course  into 
the  thickest  of  the  most  potent  provinces  and  people 
of  all  that  country.  *  *  *  *  Your  petitioners  found 
them  free  to  admiration,  not  only  to  part  with  the 
choicest  partes  of  their  territoryes  (Aquidneck  and 
other  islands)  being  no  wayes  infer iour,  for  commo- 
dious harbours  in  all  respects  to  any  parts  of  the 
country,  but  also  to  quitt  their  native,  ancient  and 
very  advantageous  stations  and  dwellings  thereon,  to 
make  roome  for  them."  The  above  paragraphs  from 
Dr.  Clarke's  long  letter  refer  to  the  purchase  of 
Aquidneck  and  other  islands  from  Canonicus  and 
Miantonomi  by  Mr.  Coddington  and  his  associates, 
March  24,  1638. 

The  next  paragraph  of  the  letter  sets  forth  to 
King  Charles  most  important  facts  as  to  the  motive 
of  the  founding  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island 
(Aquidneck),  jAie  establishment  of  a  corporate  gov- 
ernment and  the  adoption  of  the  English  code  of  laws 
and  magistracy,  "so  far  forth  as  the  nature  and  con- 
stitution of  the  place  and  the  professed  cause  of  their 
conscience  would  permit."J 

Dr.  Clarke  closes  his  letter  with  an  earnest  appeal 
for  a  new  charter,  "whereby  under  the  wing  of  your 
Royall  protection,  we  may  not  only  be  sheltered,  but 
caused  to  flourish  in  our  civill  and  religious  concern- 
ments in  these  remote  parts  of  the  world." 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     105 

In  a  second  address  to  the  King  for  "a  charter  of 
civill  corporation"  Dr.  Clarke,  after  further  refer- 
ence to  "the  wonderful  passage  of  the  Providence  of 
the  Most  High,"  writes,  "Your  petitioners  have  it 
much  on  their  hearts  (if  they  may  be  permitted)  to 
hold  forth  a  livelie  experiment  that  a  flourishing 
Civill  State  may  stand,  yea,  and  best  be  maintained, 
and  that  among  English  spirits,  with  a  full  liberty  in 
religious  concernments,  and  that  true  pyety  rightly 
grounded  upon  gospell  principles  will  give  the  best 
and  greatest  security  to  true  sovereignty,  and  will 
lay  in  the  hearts  of  men  the  strongest  obligations  to 
truer  loyalty."  If  the  Portsmouth  Compact  of  1638 
needed  any  commentary,  nothing  could  be  more  com- 
plete and  satisfactory  than  the  historic  setting  of  the 
instrument  and  the  exact  definition  of  its  terms,  pur- 
^  poses  and  meaning  as  given  by  its  author,  in  his  suc- 
cessful argument  for  a  Royal  Charter. 

As  already  stated  the  Portsmouth  Compact  was 
f  probably  written  and  signed  at  Boston,  under  date  of 
March  7,  1638.  As  it  inaugurated  for  America  and 
the  world  the/principle  of  self-government  or  popular 
sovereignty,  it  did  not  ask  or  require  any  municipal, 
state  or  court  sanction.  (  It  was  the  free  act  of  the 
sovereign  people  themselves,  exercising  the  rights, 
natural  and  inalienable,  to  life,  liberty  and  happiness.) 
Jehovah  was  invoked  as  a  witness  of  this  great  trans- 
action, unique,  singular,  the  first  of  its  nature  in  the 


106         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

records  of  men.  Had  we  naught  else  than  this  re- 
markable act  of  nineteen  men  at  Boston,  (or  a  prob- 
able twenty-three),  the  Primacy  of  Portsmouth  as  an 
absolutely  free  municipality  would  be  established,  but 
we  are  only  at  the  starting  point  of  a  series  of  events 
which  establish  our  claim  beyond  peradventure. 

Under  date  of  the  Compact  appears  the  election  of 
the  executive  of  the  sovereign  state,  with  the  title  of 
Judge.     The  record  is  as  follows: 

First  Election  by  Freemen. 

The  7th  of  the  first  month,  1638. 

We  that  are  Freemen  Incorporate  of  this  Bodie 

Politick  do  Elect  and  Constitute  William  Coddington, 

Esquire,  a  Judge  amongst  us,  and  do  covenant  to  yield 

all  due  honour  unto  him  according  to  the  lawes  of 

God,  and  so  far  as  in  us  lyes  to  maintaine  the  honour 

and  privileges  of  his  place  which  shall  hereafter  be 

ratified  according  unto  God,  the  Lord  helping  us  so 

to  do. 

William  Aspinwall,  Sec'ry. 

Oath  of  Office. 
I,  William  Coddington,  Esquire,  being  called  and 
chosen  by  the  Freemen  Incorporate  of  this  Bodie 
Politick  to  be  a  Judge  amongst  them,  do  covenant  to 
do  Justice  and  Judgment  impartially  according  to  the 
lawes  of  God,  and  to  maintaine  the  Fundamental! 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     107 

Rights  and  Privileges  of  this  Bodie  Politick,  which 
shall  hereaftei"  be  ratified  according  unto  God,  the 
Lord  helping  us  so  to  do. 

Wm.  Coddington. 

William  Aspinwall  is  appointed  Secretary. 

It  is  agreed  that  William  Dyre  shall  be  Clarke  of 
this  Body. 

As  the  claim  is  sometimes  made  that  Connecticut 
was  the  first  of  the  American  Colonies  to  adopt  Dem- 
ocratic ideals  in  civil  aflfairs  it  is  well  to  state  essential 
dififerences  and  agreements  as  to  that  plantation  and 
Aquidneck.  A  provincial  government  was  instituted, 
under  a  Commission  from  the  General  Court  of  Mas- 
sachusetts (March  8,  1635),  to  eight  of  the  persons 
who  "had  resolved  to  transplant  themselves  and  their 
estates  unto  the  River  Connecticut."  *  *  *  *  "that 
Commission  taking  rise  from  the  desire  of  the  people 
that  removed,  who  judged  it  inconvenient  to  go  away 
without  any  form  of  government."  In  1636,  March 
3rd,  Roger  Ludlowe,  Esq.  and  seven  others  were 
made  a  Board  of  Commissioners  "with  full  power 
and  authoritie"  "for  the  peaceable  and  quiett  ordering 
the  affaires  of  the  said  plantacion,"  Connecticut.  In 
later  legislation,  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  claimed 
the  territory  of  Connecticut  as  a  Province  lying  with- 
in its  Patent  and  subject  to  its  control. 


108         The  Story  op  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Concerning  the  Coddington  purchase  of  Aquidneck 
and  other  islands  in  Narragansett  Bay,  no  claims  of 
ownership  or  Patent  rights  were  ever  made  by  any 
Colony  and  the  Indian  quit-claim  was  never  disputed 
as  a  fair  title.  The  first  voluntary  Compact  of  the 
Connecticut  towns,  Windsor,  Hartford  and  Wethers- 
eld,  was  entered  into  Jan.  14,  1639,  "as  one  Publike 
State  or  Commonwealth,"  to  "enter  into  combination 
and  confederation  together,  to  mayntayne  and  pre- 
searve  the  liberty  and  purity  of  the  gospell  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  wch  we  now  professe,  as  also  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  churches,  which  according  to  the  truth 
of  the  said  gospell  is  now  practised  amongst  us;  As 
also  in  civill  affaires  to  be  guided  and  governed  ac- 
cording to  such  Lawes,  Rules,  Orders  and  Decrees  as 
shall  be  made,"  etc. 

Eleven  decrees  of  the  convention  of  the  three  towns 
constitute  "the  Fundamental  Orders  of  Connecticut," 
which  Bancroft  and  other  historians  denominate  the 
first  foundations  of  our  American  Constitution.  As 
to  this  claim,  Channing  states  correctly  that  this  "cele- 
brated Constitution  did  little  more  than  to  formulate 
on  paper  the  existing  government  of  Massachusetts 
Bay."  It  agrees  with  the  Aquidneck  Declaration  in 
the  recognition  of  "Almighty  God"  as  the  wise  Dis- 
poser of  His  Divine  Providence,  and  the  Word  of 
God  as  the  source  of  both  human  and  Divine  Law. 
Both  communities  ordain  ofificers  of  the  same  rank 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     109 

and  a  legislative  body  with  equal  powers  and  privi- 
leges. 

In  other  matters  the  differences  are  important  and 
vital.  Connecticut  makes  the  civil  state  primarily  the 
sponsor  of  "the  liberty  and  purity  of  the  Gospell  of 
our  Lord  Jesus."  Still  more  it  makes  "the  discipline 
of  the  churches"  a  part  of  the  duty  of  the  state.  This 
feature  unites  Church  and  State  in  one  and  consti- 
tutes a  church-state  and  a  state-church — in  no  sense 
unlike  the  Puritan  church-state  of  the  Bay  Colony. 

In  the  Connecticut  "orders,"  the  General  Court  is 
made  the  supreme  power  of  the  Commonwealth, 
thereby  transferring  the  supremacy  of  the  people  to 
a  body  chosen  by  and  a  creature  of  the  people.  The 
General  Court,  consisting  of  six  elective  persons  be- 
side the  Governor,  constituted  the  Colonial  Judiciary 
to  administer  justice  according  to  the  laws.  This  plan 
of  uniting  the  legislative,  judicial  and  executive  func- 
tions in  one  body  may  have  been,  as  in  the  Bay  Colony, 
a  matter  of  economy  in  administration,  but  absolutely 
undemocratic  and  unwise  in  principle.  It  is  difficult 
to  understand  how  clear  minded  historians  can  find 
the  elements  of  a  free  republic  under  such  a  system. 
The  more  certain  is  this  conclusion  when  we  state  that 
there  is  no  Bill  of  Rights  as  to  civil  or  religious  liber- 
ties and  the  peculiar  qualification  of  the  Governor 
that  he  must  be  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
Body, — the  established  church  of  the  Colony.     It  is 


/ 

/ 


\ 


110  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

an  interesting  and  most  important  bit  of  evidence  as 
to  the  much  vaunted  civil  government  of  Connecticut, 
that  in  the  charter  of  1662,  granted  by  Charles,  the 
people  "shall  have  and  enjoy  all  Liberties  and  Im- 
munities of  free  and  natural  Subjects  *  *  *  as  if  they 
and  every  one  of  them  were  born  within  the  realm 
of  England."  This  charter  concluded  all  previous 
Colonial  rights  and  privileges  and  reduced  the  people 
to  the  level  of  their  brethren  across  the  sea.  What- 
ever of  special  republicanism  belonged  to  the  Hart- 
ford Colony  by  the  "Orders"  of  1635,  was  abolished 
twenty-seven  years  later  by  the  Crown. 

In  contradistinction  to  the  civil  polity  of  Connecti- 
cut and  Massachusetts  Bay  Colonies,  the  Aquidneck 
Colony  affirms  absolute  freedom  in  civil  and  religious 
concerns,  establishes  no  religious  tests  for  office,  pro- 
tects all  religious  faiths  while  patronizing  none,  es- 
tablishes a  distinct  judiciary,  and  affirms  and  practises 
the  principles  of  majority-rule  in  a  Democratic  state. 

The  Colony  of  New  Haven,  the  original  constitu- 
tion of  which  was  adopted  June  4,  1639,  was  more  dis- 
tinctly a  church-state  community  than  was  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  and  no  claim  has  ever  been  made  as  to 
its  exercise  in  "Democracie."  As  all  the  New 
England  Colonies,  except  Rhode  Island  (Aquidneck), 
— Massachusetts  Bay,  Plymouth,  Hartford  and  New 
Haven, — in  addition  to  other  limitations  on  personal 
freedom,  not  only  suspended  the  operation  of  all  just 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     Ill 

laws  as  to  the  Quakers,  but  both  approved  of  and 
practised  persecution  of  this  sect  in  one  form  or  an- 
other, we  shall  dismiss  them  as  claimants  in  founding 
a  state  with  religious  freedom  as  a  cardinal  doctrine, 
limiting  our  later  contention  to  the  claims  made  in  be- 
half of  Roger  Williams  and  the  Providence  Planta- 


tions. 


Dr.  Clarke  tells  us  that  a  portion  of  the  Boston 
party  came  by  vessel,  "passing  about  a  large  and  dan- 
gerous Cape,"  (Cape  Cod).  The  time  was  March, 
1638.  The  day  of  sailing  from  Boston  is  not  known, 
nor  is  the  date  of  arrival  in  Narragansett  Bay.  Dr. 
Clarke  and  some  others  followed  the  Indian  trail 
through  the  forests,  coming  to  Providence  to  consult 
with  Roger  Williams  as  to  their  location.  The  story 
of  the  purchase  of  Aquidneck  has  been  told,  and, 
when  the  overland  and  seagoing  people  meet,  it  is  on 
the  Island  of  Aquidneck,  their  future  home.  It  is 
probable  that  the  vessel  entered  the  Sakonnet  River 
and  that  emigrants  came  to  land  with  their  household 
goods  on  the  northeast  part  of  the  Island  of  Aquid- 
neck, in  a  section  known  by  the  Indian  name  Pocas- 
set.  The  site  of  the  original  settlement  was  at  the 
head  of  the  Cove,  north  of  the  village  of  Newtown, 
and  is  easily  located  by  ancient  landmarks.  The  first 
general  meeting  of  record  of  the  new  settlers  from 
Boston  was  held  on  the  13th  day  of  May,  1638,  at 
which   were   present    Messrs.    William    Coddington, 


112         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

William  Hutchinson,  John  Coggeshall,  Edward 
Hutchinson,  \\^illiam  Baulston,  John  Clarke,  John 
Porter,  Samuel  Wilbore,  John  Sanford,  ^Mlliam  Free- 
borne,  Philip  Sherman,  John  Walker  and  Randall 
Holden.  At  this  meeting  several  orders  were  adopted 
as  follows: 

1.  None  shall  be  received  as  inhabitants  or  free- 
men to  build  or  plant  upon  the  Island  but  such  as  shall 
be  received  in  by  the  consent  of  the  Bodye,  and  do  sub- 
mitt  to  the  Government  that  is  or  shall  be  established, 
according  to  the  word  of  God. 

2.  The  Town  shall  be  built  at  the  Springe  and 
Mr.  William  Hutchinson  is  permitted  to  have  six  lots 
for  himself  and  his  children,  layed  out  at  the  Great 
Cove. 

3.  An  order  for  a  five-rayle  fence  from  Bay  to 
Bay,  the  charge  to  be  borne  proportional  to  allotments 
of  land  was  made  and  repealed. 

4.  An  order  that  every  person  should  have  one 
acre  of  Meadow  for  a  beast,  one  acre  for  a  sheep  and 
one  acre  and  a  half  for  a  horse  was  made  and  re- 
pealed. 

5.  Every  Inhabitant  of  this  Island  shall  be  always 
provided  of  one  muskett,  one  pound  of  powder,  twenty 
bulletts,  and  two  fathom  of  match,  with  Sword  and 
rest  and  Bandeliees,  all  completely  furnished. 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     113 


6.  That  the  Meeting  House  shall  be  set  on  the 
neck  of  land  that  goes  to  the  Maine  of  the  Island 
where  Mr.  John  Coggeshall  and  Mr.  John  Sanford 
shall  lay  it  out. 

During  the  year  1638-9  thirteen  public  town  meet- 
ings were  held  for  the  transaction  of  public  business. 
The  records  show  allotments  of  lands  to  the  inhabi- 
tants, with  a  record  of  each  man's  estate  in  the  book 
of  land  records,  May  4,  1638/ William  Baulston  was 
given  consent  "to  erect  and  sett  up  a  howese  of  en- 
tertainment for  strangers,  and  also  to  brew  beare  and 
to  sell  wines  and  strong  waters  and  such  necessary 
provisions  as  may  be  usefull  in  any  kind."  June  4, 
1638,  William  Baulston  and  Edward  Hutchinson  are 
chosen  sergeants  of  the  Traine  Bands,  Samuel  Wil- 
bore  clerk,  and  Randall  Holden  and  Henry  Bull  cor- 
porals. 

/'  The  lands  of  the  Island  are  rated  at  two  shillings 
per  acre,  one  half  to  be  paid  "presently"  and  the  other 
half  in  three  months  from  date  of  purchase^ 

Mr.  William  Hutchinson  and  Mr.  John  Coggeshall 
were  chosen  Treasurers  for  the  Company,  to  receive 
and  disburse  money,  as  ordered. 

Mr.  Sanford  and  four  others  are  ordered  to  repair 
the  highways  between  Aquidneck  and  Titicut,  to  be 
paid  out  of  the  treasury. 


114         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Any  Freeman  absenting  himself  from  the  town 
meeting  "to  treate  upon  the  Public  affaires  of  the 
Body,  upon  public  warning,  (whether  by  beate  of  the 
drumm  or  otherwise),  failing  one  quarter  of  an  hour 
after  the  second  sound  shall  forfeit  twelve  pence,  or 
if  any  one  departs  without  leave,  the  same  sum." 

Aug.  20,  1638.  A  pair  of  stockes  with  a  whipping 
post  was  ordered  to  be  made,  to  be  paid  for  out  of  the 
treasury. 

Richard  Dummer,  Nicholas  Easton,  William  Bren- 
ton  and  Robert  Harding  were  admitted  freemen. 

Aug.  23,  1638.  A  house  for  a  prison  was  ordered, 
twelve  feet  long,  two  feet  broad,  ten  foot  studding,  of 
sufficient  strength  and  the  cost  to  be  paid  out  of  the 
treasury.    Mr.  William  Brenton  was  the  builder. 

Mr.  Richard  Dummer,  for  building  a  mill,  useful  to 
the  plantation,  was  granted  an  allotment  of  land  equal 
to  an  estate  of  £150. 

Randall  Holden  was  chosen  town  marshall  "for  one 
whole  year." 

Sept.  15,  1638.  Eight  persons  were  arraigned  "for 
a  riott  or  drunkenness."  Two  were  sentenced  to  pay 
5s.  apiece  and  "to  sett  till  the  evening  in  the  stockes" ; 
one  to  pay  5s.  and  "sett  one  houre  in  the  stockes"  and 
four  were  fined  5s.  each  for  default. 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     115 

Acommittee  was  chosen  to  view  damages  done 
upon  corn  and  other  fruits. 

Nov.  5,  1638.  The  12th  of  November  was  set 
apart  as  "a  general  day  of  Trayning  for  the  Exer- 
cise of  those  who  are  able  to  beare  armes  in  the  arte 
of  military  discipline,"  for  males  between  16  and  50 
years  of  age.  Three  and  six-acre  house  lots  were  laid 
out  by  Mr.  Sanford  and  Mr.  Jeffries. 

It  was  ordered  that  Mr.  Edward  Hutchinson  shall 
bake  bread  for  the  use  of  the  plantation,  and  that  his 
bread  for  the  assize  shall  be  ordered  by  that  body. 

Nov.  16.  1638.  Mr.  Nicholas  Easton  was  granted 
an  extra  allotment  of  land  for  setting  up  a  water 
mill  "for  the  necessary  use  and  good  of  the  planta- 
tion." 

John  Lutner,  a  carpenter,  having  left  the  Island 
without  paying  his  debts,  Messrs.  Brenton  and  Cog- 
geshall  were  ordered  to  seize  his  house  and  furniture 
to  pay  his  debts,  after  appraisal  of  his  property. 

Messrs.  Coggeshall,  Hutchinson.  Wilbore  and  Dyer 
are  chosen  as  a  committee  to  buy  venison  of  the  In- 
dians for  three  half-pence  a  pound,  and  these  truck- 
masters  are  ordered  to  sell  the  meat  at  two  pence  per 
pound,  a  farthing  to  be  paid  into  the  Treasury,  and 
the  rest  to  the  committee  for  their  services. 


116         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Jan.  2,  1638-9.  At  this  meeting  it  was  decided  to 
choose  three  Elders  "to  assist  the  Judge  in  the  execu- 
tion of  Justice  and  Judgment  for  the  regulating  and 
ordering  of  all  offences  and  offenders;  and  for  the 
drawing  up  and  determining  of  all  such  Rules  and 
Laws  as  shall  be  according  to  God,  which  may  con- 
duce to  the  Good  and  Welfare  of  the  community." 
The  Judge  and  the  Elders  were  made  accountable  to 
the  Body  of  Freemen,  once  each  cjuarter  of  the  year, 
for  all  "cases  actions  and  rules"  which  they  have 
acted  on,  which  could  then  be  vetoed  or  repealed  by 
that  Body. 

At  the  first  election  Mr.  Nicholas  Easton,  IMr.  John 
Coggeshall  and  Mr.  William  Brenton  were  chosen 
Elders  as  Assistants  to  Judge  William  Coddington. 

Mr.  John  Clarke,  Mr.  Jeffries,  John  Porter  and 
Richard  Barden  were  chosen  to  "survey  aU  the  lands 
near  abouts  and  bring  in  a  Mapp  or  Piatt  of  all  the 
said  lands  and  so  to  make  Report  to  the  Judge  and 
Elders,  whereby  they  may  receive  information  and 
direction  for  the  distribution  to  each  man  his  prop- 
erty." 

The  Judge  and  Elders  were  instructed  to  deal  with 
William  Aspinwall  concerning  defaults,  "as  also  con- 
cerning Invasions  forreine  anl  domestick  as  also  the 
determination  of  Military  discipline,  and  the  dispos- 
ing of  lands  as  well  as  the  howse  lotts  and  impropria- 
tions." 


HENRY  BULL  HOUSE 

Built   1639-40 

NEWPORT.  R    L 


A  Democratic  Statk  in  the  Making.     117 

Jan.  11,  1638-9.  "The  Body  being  assembled  with 
the  Judge  and  Elders  it  was  agreed  (as  necessary) 
for  the  Commonwealth,  that  a  Constable  and  Ser- 
geant should  be  chosen  by  the  Body  to  execute  the 
Lawes  and  penalties  thereof."  There  follows  in  the 
records  a  statement  of  the  duties  of  each  officer. 

Samuel  Wilbore  was  chosen  Constable  and  Henry 
Bull  Sergeant  and  both  were  "invested  with  the  au- 
thority aforesayed  and  what  else  shall  be  found  meet 
to  concure  with  the  office." 

It  was  voted  that  the  prison  be  set  near  to  or  ad- 
joining the  house  of  Henry  Bull,  the  Sergeant. 

April  30,  1639.  It  was  ordered  that  a  Court  be 
held  every  quarter,  "to  doe  right  betwixt  man  and 
man,"  by  a  jury  of  twelve  men,  "also  to  put  an  end 
to  any  Controversy,  if  it  amount  not  to  the  value  of 
fortie  shillings." 

On  the  same  day.  the  Freemen  of  Pocasset  acknow- 
ledged themselves  "the  legall  subjects  of  his  Majestic 
King  Charles"  and  in  his  name  bound  themselves 
"into  a  civill  body  politique,  unto  his  lawes  accord- 
ing to  matters  of  justice."  At  the  same  meeting,  a 
Judge  was  elected  "by  the  major  voice." 

Farms  for  grain  were  laid  out,  ranging  in  size 
from  thirtv  to  four  hundred  acres. 


118  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

On  March  1,  1640,  the  first  warranty  deed  appears 
of  forty-five  acres  of  land  from  Nicholas  Brown  to 
John  Wood. 

We  have  been  thus  particular  in  noting  the  prin- 
cipal events  of  record  as  to  the  founding  of  Ports- 
mouth and  the  town  proceedings  of  the  first  year,  for 
the  purpose  of  showing  the  orderly  procedure  of  the 
settlers  of  the  new  town  on  Aquidneck,  called  at  first 
by  the  Indian  name  Pocasset.  We  see  before  our 
own  eyes  a  town  in  the  making.  The  several  acts  are 
so  natural,  so  regular  and  so  well  matured  that  they 
seem,  as  they  really  are,  the  product  of  a  long  experi- 
ence m  civic  building.  By  the  records  or  between  the 
lines  we  read  of  no  personal  differences,  disputes  or 
divisions.  Their  public  deeds  are  so  unanimous  that 
they  seem  as  the  deed  of  a  single  person.  The  com- 
mon weal  augurs  the  founding  of  a  strong  Common- 
wealth. Each  member  renders  essential  aid  in  the 
perfect  jointure  of  all  the  parts.  There  are  no  quarrels 
or  fights  over  lands,  or  titles,  or  offices,  or  Covenants 
of  Works  or  Grace./  Pocasset  is  a  family  of  families 


^^'^-^^r^  ^y  so  far  as  all  living  evidence  can  be  produced.    A  site 

'^O/''^.      is  chosen  for  the  town,  near  the  Great  Cove.     Home 

^^^^L  *^  4o.te  of  six  acres  are  at  once  laid  out,  houses  are  built, 
gardens  and  fields  planted,  lands  are  surveyed,  platted 
and  allotted  for  farms,  town  officers  are  elected,  a 
town  treasury  established,  public  money  is  provided 
for    by    sale    of    lands,     fences    are    built,    cattle, 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     119 

horses  and  sheep  are  secured,  family  and  neighbor- 
hood protection  is  assured  by  the  provision  for  fire 
arms,  a  Meeting  House  is  ordered  built,  a  town  com- 
mon laid  out,  a  house  of  entertainment  or  tavern  is 
agreed  upon,  where  "beare"  may  be  brewed  and  wines 
and  other  "strong  waters"  bought  and  sold,  Train 
Bands  are  organized,  officers  chosen  and  training 
days  established,  highways  are  laid  out  and  highway 
surveyors  chosen,  their  labor  to  be  paid  out  of  the 
town  treasury,  town  meetings  often  bi-monthly  are 
called  by  the  "beate  of  the  Drumm,"  and  a  shilling 
fine  levied  on  a  late  comer,  town  stocks  and  a  whip- 
ping post  were  built  with  treasury  money  and  in  less 
than  a  month  three  men,  arrested  and  found  guilty 
"for  a  Riott  of  Drunkenness,"  were  paying  a  portion 
of  the  judicial  penalty  with  their  arms  and  legs  pin- 
ioned between  the  oak  beams.  The  erection  of  a  prison, 
though  small  in  its  dimensions  is  proof  of  the  purpose 
to  shut  up  sturdy  offenders  in  law  breaking  and  the 
choice  of  Henry  Bull  as  town  sergeant  was  an  abso- 
lute guaranty  that  culprits  would  serve  out  their  terms 
of  commitment.  With  Samuel  Wilbore  as  Constable, 
"to  inform  in  Generall  of  all  manifest  breaches  of  the 
Law  of  God,  that  tend  to  civill  disturbance"  and  with 
Judge  William  Coddington  and  his  associates  on  the 
bench  "for  the  regulating  and  ordering  of  all  offences 
and  offenders,"  it  is  absolutely  certain  that  the  "Mag- 
istracy" was  not  a  by-word  nor  a  hissing  at  Pocasset, 
in  163&.-^ 


120  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


fx 


(To  provide  good  corn  meal,  the  chief  ingredient  of 
the  renowned  "Rhode  Island  Johnny  Cake"  two  mills 
are  provided,  a  wind  and  a  water,  and  a  land  bounty 
falls  to  the  owners.  To  provide  venison,  truck 
masters  are  chosen,  who  are  authorized  to  pay  three 
cents  a  pound  to  the  Indians,  to  be  sold  at  four  cents, 
dividing  the  one  penny  between  themselves  and  the 
town  treasury.  To  provide  good  bread,  corn  and  rye, 
Mr.  Edward  Hutchinson  was  chosen  town  baker.) 
Here  then,  on  the  Island  of  Aquidneck  in  Narragan' 
sett  Bay,  at  Pocasset,  was  founded,  in  the  year  1638, 
an  American  town  on  new  linesl  The  founders  were 
well-to-do,  intelligent  families  of  English  birth.  While 
in  England,  they  belonged  to  the  liberal  Puritan  ele- 
ment. They  left  England  that  they  might  enjoy  the 
largest  liberty  as  to  their  religious  beliefs,  consistent 
with  the  doctrines  of  a  civil  state  of  the  Democratic 
type.  Coming  to  Boston  between  the  years  1630  and 
1638,  they  had  experienced  all  the  trials  and  dangers 
of  a  pioneer  life,  in  which  a  severe  climate,  a  wilder- 
ness land,  and  tribes  of  barbarous  men  were  their 
chief  welcome.  Here  they  had  had  their  first  experi- 
ence in  the  practical  affairs  of  founding  a  town,  in 
which  most  of  the  men  and  women  were  among  the 
chief  actors.  Coddington.  Coggeshall,  the  Hutchin- 
sons,  Aspinwall,  Savage.  Brenton  and  others  had  been 
elected  and  filled  with  honor,  for  successive  years,  of- 
fices of  honor,  trust  and  service.  Alost  of  them  had 
been  members  of  the  First  Church  of  Boston  and  two 
were  Deacons,  at  the  time  of  discipline. 


) 


A  Democratic  State  in  the  Making.     121 

In  the  year  1634,  a  new  thought,  born  in  the  breast 
of  a  bright-minded  English  woman,  Anne  Hutchin- 
son, is  announced  and  taught  in  Boston  and  is  ac- 
cepted as  truth  by  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the 
Town.  That  thought  embraced  in  its  unfolding  all 
the  more  modern  concepts  of  a  free  spiritual  faith  in 
a  free  state.  To  our  minds,  it  was  involved  in  terms 
often  ambiguous  and  perplexing,  but  it  was  so  real 
in  that  day  that  its  free  discussion  and  long  accept- 
ance threatened  the  existence  of  the  Puritan  church 
and  Colony.  We  have  already,  in  another  chapter, 
related  the  incident  and  its  outcome.  Church  disci- 
pline, social  and  official  ostracism,  and  civil  disbar- 
ment and  banishment  follow  in  quick  succession,  and 
a  whole  township  of  people, — men,  women,  children, 
babes  in  arms, — was  forced  to  part  with  homes,  built 
and  comfortably  furnished,  leaving  lands,  businesses 
and  other  property  interests  practically  confiscated 
and  abandoned,  for  a  second  sea  voyage  to  erect  a 
new  Plantation,  in  the  Narragansett  Country, — a 
terra  incognita  to  these  Pilgrims  of  a  new  civil  polity 
and  spiritual  vision.  United  as  they  have  been  at 
Boston,  in  social,  civil  and  church  relations,  in  doc- 
trinal accord  in  matters  of  soul  freedom,  these  people 
are  bound  as  with  bands  of  steel  in  one  purpose  to 
erect  a  "Body  Politick,"  of  a  new  pattern,  the  primacy 
of  which  must  challenge  the  judgment  of  men.  j 


122  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Founding  of  Newport. 

At  Pocasset,  on  the  28th  day  of  April,  1639,  the 
following  agreement  was  made  by  a  portion  of  the 
founders  of  that  community. 

Agreement. 

It  is  agreed  by  us  whose  hands  are  underwritten, 
to  propagate  a  Plantation  in  the  midst  of  the  Island 
or  elsewhere ;  And  doe  engage  ourselves  to  bear  equall 
charges,  answerable  to  our  strength  and  estates  in 
common ;  and  that  our  determinations  shall  be  by 
major  voice  of  Judges  and  Elders;  the  Judge  to  have 
a  double  voice. 

Present. 

William  Coddington,  Judge.  John  Clarke 

Nicholas  Easton,  Jeremy  Clarke 

John  Coggeshall,  Thomas  Hazard 

William  Brenton,  Henry  Bull. 

William  Dyre,  Cl'k. 

Several  important  reasons  led  to  the  separation  of 
the  first  settlers  of  Pocasset  and  the  founding  of  a 


-  ■       mi  ' 

.  g;:j  li::  -  ^  "3 


"'SlI!ff!lT^§?iL' 


jy*'A,r'Ss>;t,f> 


GOV.  WILLIAM  CODDINGTON  HOUSE 
NEWPORT,  R.   \. 


The  Founding  of  Newport.  123 

new  town  at  the  South  end  of  Aquidneck.  The  first 
was  the  influx  of  a  large  number  of  families  from 
Boston  to  the  Pocasset  settlement.  In  addition  to 
those  who  were  banished  or  ostracised,  leaving  the 
Bay  Colony  by  compulsion,  many  of  Anne  Hutchin- 
son's associates  in  the  school  of  freedom  followed  her 
to  and  made  homes  on  the  Island.  Boston's  great  loss 
was  Pocasset's  great  gain.  It  is  estimated  that  one 
hundred  families  came  to  the  new  town  in  the  first 
year,  1638,  thereby  forming  a  large  body  of  claimants 
for  land,  extending  their  homesteads  over  a  large 
section  of  the  North  end  of  the  Island. 

A  second  reason  lay  in  the  fact  that  the  first  settle- 
ment was  made  in  great  haste,  after  the  purchase  of 
Aquidneck.  The  purchase  was  made  while  the  main 
body  of  the  people  were  sailing  on  an  undetermined 
voyage  from  Boston  to  Narragansett  Bay  and  the 
first  town  was  located  on  Sakonnet  River,  near  their 
landing  place.  No  survey  had  been  made  of  the 
Island  and  the  first  eligible  location  invited  occupa- 
tion. During  the  year  1638  the  whole  area  had  been 
visited  and  a  portion  of  the  company  saw,  in  the  com- 
modious, land-locked  waters  of  the  lower  Narragan- 
sett, a  future  harbor  for  shipping,  trade  and  commerce 
and  in  the  surrounding  lands,  fertile  soils  and  com- 
manding sites  for  residences.  The  names  of  Easton, 
Brenton  and  Clarke,  the  earliest  residents,  survive  in 
local  geographical  usage,  in  and  about  the  city  of 
Newport. 


124         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

It  does  not  appear  that  any  denominational  differ- 
ences had  arisen,  nor  do  the  records  show  any  but 
the  most  cordial  relations  existing  among  the  settlers 
of  the  Island  before  and  after  the  formation  of  the 
new  town,  Newport.  It  is  well  known,  however,  that 
Dr.  John  Clarke  was  an  ordained  minister  of  the 
Baptist  faith,  and  that  in  the  year  1644,  the  First 
Baptist  Church  was  organized  at  Newport,  with  Dr. 
Clarke  as  its  minister.  It  is  a  matter  of  more  than 
passing  note  that  Dr.  Clarke  conducted  public  wor- 
ship for  both  the  Congregational  and  Baptist  elements 
on  Aquidneck  from  1638  to  1644,  with  the  interval  of 
a  few  months,  when  Mr.  Robert  Lenthal  taught  a 
public  school  at  Newport  and  conducted  religious  ser- 
vices at  the  Newport  Congregational  meeting  house. 
As  a  meeting  house  was  built  at  Portsmouth  for  public 
worship  in  1638,  Rev.  John  Callender  in  his  "Century 
Sermon"  wrote,  "there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  per- 
sons of  their  zeal  (Portsmouth  and  Newport)  should 
immediately  fall  into  a  total  neglect  of  a  social  wor- 
ship." As  the  Baptists  were  a  despised  and  perse- 
cuted sect  in  England  and  in  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony,  we  have  here  a  fine  illustration  of  the 
Catholic,  tolerant  spirit  of  the  Aquidneck  founders, 
not  only  in  following  Dr.  John  Clarke  in  civil  leader- 
ship, but  in  adopting  him  and  his  teachings  in  spiritual 
leadership.  It  was  no  ordinary  Puritan  congregation 
to  which  Dr.  Clarke  ministered,  for,  at  the  double 
Sunday  services,  there  sat  in  the  pews,  William  Cod- 


The  Founding  of  Newport.  125 

dington,  Judge,  Anne  Hutchinson,  reformer,  Deacons 
Coggeshall  and  Aspinwall,  the  Brentons,  Bulls, 
Eastons,  and,  not  least,  his  own  brothers,  Joseph  and 
Thomas  Clarke,  who  joined  him  in  organizing  a 
Baptist  Church  at  Newport.  Here  certainly  was 
Simon-pure  religious  freedom,  in  a  community  taught 
at  Boston  by  the  broad-minded,  liberal  Anne  Hutchin- 
son. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  town's  people  it  was 
agreed  that  the  Plantation  should  be  called  Newport 
and  should  extend  towards  Pocasset  for  the  space  of 
five  miles,  and  Mr.  John  Clarke,  Mr.  Jeffreys,  Thos. 
Hazard  and  William  Dyer  were  chosen  to  lay  out  the 
lands  and  highways,  allowing  to  each  family  a  home 
lot  of  four  acres.  Trade  with  the  Indians  was  made 
free  for  all  people.  Mr.  Robert  Jeffries  was  chosen 
town  treasurer.  The  Secretary,  Mr.  Dyer,  was  paid 
£19  and  ten  acres  of  land  for  services.  It  was  agreed 
that  in  the  Quarter  Courts,  the  determination  of 
matters  was  by  majority  vote,  the  Judge  having  two 
votes. 

On  the  25th  of  December,  1639,  the  town  affirmed 
its  allegiance  to  King  Charles,  "as  Natural  subjects 
to  our  Prince,  and  subject  to  his  Lawes,  all  matters 
that  concern  the  Peace  shall  be  by  those  that  are 
officers  of  the  Peace,  transacted ;  and  all  actions  of  the 
case  or  Dept  shall  be  in  such  Courts  as  by  order  are 
here  appointed,  and  by  such  Judges  as  are  Deputed." 


126         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Mr.  Jeremy  Clarke  was  chosen  Constable  for  one 
year.  Mr.  William  Foster  was  chosen  "Clerke  of  the 
Traine  Band"  and  was  ordered  to  report  on  the  con- 
dition of  the  Arms.  Robert  Jeffries  was  chosen  as 
drill  master  of  the  Military  Company.  It  was  ordered 
"that  noe  man  shall  go  two  miles  from  the  Towne  un- 
armed, eyther  with  Gunn  or  Sword,  and  that  none 
shall  come  to  any  public  meeting  without  his  weapon. 
Upon  default  of  eyther  he  shall  forfeit  five  shillings." 
Commissioners  were  chosen  to  negotiate  business  with 
Pocasset.  At  the  same  meeting  (1639),  Mr.  Easton 
and  John  Clarke  were  instructed  to  inform  Mr.  Vane, 
(Harry)  by  writing,  of  the  state  of  things  here  "and 
desire  him  to  treate  about  the  obtaining  a  Patent  of 
the  Island  from  his  Majestic,  and  likewise  to  write 
to  Mr.  Thomas  Burrwood,  brother  to  Mr.  Easton, 
concerning  the  same  thing." 

On  the  3rd  of  December,  1639,  John  Bartlett  and 
John  Hadson  were  fined  five  shillings  each  for  "the 
Breach  of  the  Peace,  by  their  excess  in  drinking."  A 
fortnight  later,  Mr.  Easton  was  fined  five  shillings 
for  "coming  to  the  public  meeting  without  his 
weapon."  At  this  meeting  orders  were  issued  as  to 
building  post  and  rail  fences,  the  restraint  of  hogs, 
provision  for  bulls, — one  for  every  twenty  cows, 
keepers  for  herds  of  cattle,  and  the  firing  of  lands 
after  March  the  first.  The  Treasurer  was  ordered  to 
"provide  forthwith  a  pair  of  Stocks  and  a  whipping 


The  Founding  oe  Newport.  127 

post  to  be  sett  in  some  place  as  he  shall  have  order 
for,  in  ye  town  of  Niewport." 

We  have  seen  that   Boston  was  the  seat  of  the 
school  of  a  liberal  Democracy  and  of  tolerance  in  re- 
ligious concerns.     We  have  also  seen  a  colony  of 
families  forced  to  separate  from  the  Massachusetts 
Bay  Colony,  on  account  of  their  decided  convictions 
as  to  civil  and  religious  freedom,  in  opposition  to  a 
Puritan  theocracy.    Assured  in  conscience,  united  by 
a  persistent  and  in  a  measure,  a  subtle  persecution  for 
conscience's  sake  in  spiritual  things,  this  large  body 
of  people  consult,  plan,  decide,  act.    Led  in  their  exo- 
dus by  Dr.  John  Clarke,  ably  seconded  by  William 
Coddington,  Anne  Hutchinson  and  other  very  com- 
petent and  experienced  persons,  Aquidneck  was  pur- 
chased, a  civil  compact  of  incorporation  was  drawn 
and  signed  at  Boston,  and  a  vessel  load  of  emigrants 
with  their  personal  belongings  sail  from  Boston,  for 
an  unknown  port,  leaving  homes,  lands,  businesses  be- 
hind them,  in  their  search  for  the  land  of  their  day- 
dreams,— a  land  of  absolute  freedom.     The  sacrifice 
was  great,  but  their  vision  of  a  land  of  Freedom,  re- 
strained their  tears  and  silenced  heart  throbbings. 
This  was  the  initial  act  in  founding  the  Common- 
wealth of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck,  in  1638. 

The  second  act  appears  in  the  settlement  and  or- 
ganization of  the  two  towns,  Portsmouth,  1638,  and 
Newport  in  1639,  by  this  English  Massachusetts  Bay 


128         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Colony  company.  The  records  of  the  planting  of 
these  towns  occupy  eighty- four  pages  of  the  first 
volume  of  the  Rhode  Island  Colonial  Records, — pages 
45-128,  inclusive,  to  which  reference  is  made  and  the 
contents  are  entered  as  an  essential  factor  of  my  ar- 
gument. In  Chapter  I.  will  be  found  an  outline  of 
the  fundamentals  of  a  sovereign  state, — of  such  im- 
portance as  to  command  a  reading.  This  outline 
combines  a  body  of  men  and  women,  in  general  agree- 
ment in  faith  and  polity,  with  an  intelligent  under- 
standing of  the  relations  of  the  individual  to  civil 
society.  A  charter  or  compact  is  adopted  embracing 
the  basic  principles  of  the  inchoate  state,  with  condi- 
tions and  limitations  as  to  freemanship  and  all  the 
institutions,  functions  and  officials  for  the  establish- 
ment of  orderly  government.  It  is  of  the  utmost  im- 
port that  rules  and  laws  be  established  for  protecting 
the  rights  of  life,  liberty,  property  and  reputation  and 
the  choice  and  installation  of  all  officials  for  the  safe- 
guarding the  whole  people  and  the  execution  of  the 
laws  adopted  by  the  body  politic.  Reviewing  the 
records  of  the  two  towns,  Portsmouth,  1638,  and 
Newport,  1639,  we  find, 

First,  A  large  body  of  people  of  Boston  and  other 
towns  in  The  Bay  Colony,  in  the  years  1637  and  8, 
made  plans  to  found  a  new  Plantation  and  sent  out 
scouts.  North  and  South,  for  a  satisfactory  location 
for  settlement. 


The  Founding  of  Newport.  129 

Second,  All  were  in  accord  as  to  matters  of  religious 
faith  and  civil  polity,  holding  to  absolute  freedom  in 
spiritual  concerns,  within  the  bonds  of  a  Democratic 
state. 

Third,  A  civil  Compact  was  formed  at  Boston  under 
date  of  March  7,  1638,  as  the  basis  of  law  and  order 
in  the  Commonwealth  to  be  established,  wherein  the 
teachings  of  Jesus  had  full  recognition. 

Fourth,  The  gravity  of  the  transaction  appears  in 
the  breaking  up  of  newly  established  homes  and  of 
business,  the  severance  of  social  and  church  ties  and 
the  second  endeavor  of  many  families,  moved  by  a 
common  motive,  to  found  homes  and  civil  society  in 
accord  with  their  ideas  and  consciences  as  to  Liberty. 

Fifth,  Aquidneck  and  other  Islands  in  Narragan- 
sett  Bay  were  purchased  for  the  future  home  of  the 
Colonists  from  The  Bay  Colony,  under  date  of  March 
24,  1638. 

Sixth,  The  body  of  emigrants  took  ship  at  Boston, 
voyaged  to  Aquidneck,  landed  in  the  neighborhood  of 
the  shores  of  Mount  Hope  Bay,  and  located  their  first 
town,  called  Pocasset,  the  Indian  name  of  the  place, 
in  the  Northeastern  part  of  their  Island  purchase,  in 
1638. 

Seventh,  A  year  later,  April  28,  1639,  a  second  town, 
called  Newport,  was  established  at  the  South  end  of 
the  Island  Aquidneck,  by  the  same  body  essentially 
that  founded  Pocasset,  the  year  previous. 


130         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Eighth,  Both  towns  established  practically  the  same 
body  of  laws  and  were  both,  as  civil  bodies,  at  first, 
under  the  guidance  of  a  Judge  elected  by  a  majority 
vote,  and  later  under  an  added  magistracy  of  three 
Elders  or  Aldermen,  constituting  a  Justice's  Court  as 
well  as  a  legislative  body,  for  each  town. 

Ninth,  Lands  were  allotted  to  the  amount  of  six 
acres  for  home  lots  and  farm  outlands,  according  to 
the  needs  and  financial  ability  of  the  purchaser,  at  a 
uniform  price  of  two  shillings  an  acre. 

Tenth,  Town  officers  were  elected  by  majority  vote 
of  the  Freemen  and  consisted  of  a  Judge,  three  Elders 
or  Aldermen,  a  Clerk,  a  Treasurer,  a  Surveyor,  a 
Constable,  a  Sergeant,  Surveyors  of  Highways,  a 
Plantation  Baker,  and  several  committees  for  specific 
ends. 

Eleventh,  Among  the  institutions  established  by 
each  town,  the  first  year,  were  a  Meeting  House,  a 
prison,  stocks  and  whipping  posts,  a  Court  of  Justice, 
pounds  for  cattle,  wind  and  water  mills,  taxation  and 
a  town  treasury,  the  issuance  and  records  of  deeds 
and  land  titles,  a  military  train  or  band  regularly 
officered,  training  days,  public  houses  for  entertain- 
ment of  man  and  beast,  a  ferry  established  to  the 
main  land,  arms  and  ammunition  provided  for  family 
and  general  defence,  a  nightly  town  watch,  provisions 
for  the  poor,  and  in  the  year  1640,  the  town  of  New- 


The  Founding  of  Newport.  131 

port  set  up  a  public  school,  set  apart  lands  for  school 
purposes  and  chose  Mr.  Robert  Lenthal  as  the  first 
public  school  teacher  of  the  town. 

Tivelfth,  Town  meetings  were  held  regularly  at 
which  all  public  affairs  were  considered  and  decided 
by  the  major  vote,  lateness  in  attendance  or  absence 
being  punishable  by  a  fine.  The  town  council  as  it 
may  be  termed,  acted  in  the  absence  of  instructions, 
but  its  acts  could  be  negatived  by  vote  of  the  Freemen. 
Courts  of  Justice  were  held  quarterly  or  as  cases 
might  demand  consideration.  Magistracy  was  held 
in  high  repute  and  fines  and  other  punishment  ad- 
ministered irrespective  of  rank  of  the  offender.  Town 
governments  thus  established,  at  the  outset,  by  people, 
who,  both  in  England  and  at  Boston  and  other  Bay 
Colony  towns  had  been  accustomed  to  orderly  ad- 
ministration of  civic  affairs,  continued  in  establishing 
order,  systematic  procedure,  and  a  high  standard  of 
public  service. 

But  what  is  most  significant  is  the  absolute  fact 
that  all  this  inauguration  of  government,  laws,  insti- 
tutions, legal  processes,  public  taxation,  etc.,  etc.,  in  a 
wilderness  land,  under  strangely  new  conditions,  was 
accomplished  with  but  few  hindrances,  and  so  far  as 
the  records  show,  with  a  remarkably  unanimity  and 
large  consideration  for  the  public  weal. 

Another  fact  stands  high  above  all  others.  It  is 
this, — no  person  within  the  compass  of  the  two  towns, 


132 


The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


Portsmouth  and  Newport,  later  the  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island,  was  ever  called  to  a  Court  of  Inquisition  for 
his  religious  belief  or  practise  and  no  person  was  ever 
deprived  of  his  liberty  and  civic  freedom  in  opinion 
and  action,  except  for  crime. 


Founding  of  Rhode  Island.  133 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  Founding  of  The  Colony  of  Rhode  Island 
on  Aquidneck. 

^   The  history  of  the  first  year  of  the  towns  of  'Eoris^. 

<  mouth^and— Newport  shows  that  the  founders  were 
men  of  thought  and  action,  united  in  purpose  and  pur- 

I  suing  it  vigorously,  courageously.  The  Island  of 
Aquidneck  was  a  land  of  forests.  The  first  houses 
were  built  of  the  live  timber,  oak,  pine,  maple,  grow- 
ing on  the  lands  of  the  planters.  The  breaking  of 
the  virgin  soil  by  mattock  and  spade  was  no  holiday 
affair,  for  an  acre  of  ground  must  be  cultivated  to 
support  each  member  of  the  family.  Deer,  bears, 
foxes,  wolves  inhabitated  the  forests  of  the  Island 
and  Main.  Clams  and  fish  abounded  and  these  fish 
and  meat  supplies  with  beans,  corn  and  rye  bread  and 
Rhode  Island  Johnny  cakes  constituted  the  food  of 
the  founders.  Little  wonder  that  they  were  healthy 
and  well  filled  with  ambition  and  energy  for  their 
great,  masterly  undertaking, — the  building  a  Free 
Commonwealth. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that^both  towns  were  founded 
by  the  same  persons?  thereby  ensuring  the  construe- 


134  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

tion  of  the  same  town  organization  and  preserving 
mutual  friendship  and  coherency.  One  looks  in  vain 
for  evidences  of  disorder,  quarrels,  local  or  town  dis- 
sensions. Dififerences  in  opinion  and  action  are  the 
best  proofs  of  a  healthy  individualism,  and  such  dif- 
ferences undoubtedl)^  existed,  or  the  society  could  not 
have  been  human.  It  may  be  asserted,  without  fear 
of  contradiction,  that  the  settlers  of  Aquidneck  were 
freer  from  disturbing  agencjes  than  any  other  Amer- 
ican Colony  or  settlement.  ^  The  next  step  in  advance 
of  a  well  regulated  town  government  was  the  founda- 
V  tion  of  a  state  by  the  union  of  the  two  towns,  under 
■^ne  general  government.'  It  has  been  noted  that  "the 
Body  Politicke  in  the  He  of  Aqethnec,  inhabiting," 
on  the  25th  of  November,  1639,  did  instruct  Mr. 
Easton  and  Mr.  John  Clarke  to  write  to  Sir  Harry 
Vane,  their  former  associate  and  sympathetic  friend 
in  Boston,  to  treat  with  King  Charles  for  "obtaining 
a  Patent  of  the  Island  from  his  Majestic." 

Four  months  later,  on  the  12th  of  March,  1640,  at 
the  general  election  in  the  town  of  Newport,  a  dele- 
gation from  the  town  of  Pocasset,  consisting  of  Mr. 
William  Hutchinson,  Mr.  William  Baulston,  Mr. 
John  Sanford,  John  Porter,  Adam  Mott,  William 
Freeborne,  John  Walker,  Philip  Sherman,  Richard 
Carder  and  Randall  Holden,  presented  themselves, 
and,  in  behalf  of  the  town  of  Pocasset,  asked  to  be 
"reunited"  to  the  Newport  government,  and  the  clerk 


/ 


Founding  of  Rhode  Island.  135 

of  the  town  of  Newport  records  the  fact,  "are  readily 
embraced  by  us."  By  this  simple  act  of  affirmation 
a  colony  was  formed,  the  first  among  men  "holding 
forth  a  lively  experiment  that  a  flourishing  civill  state 
may  stand,  yea,  and  best  be  maintained,  and  that 
among  English  spirits,  with  a  full  liberty  in  religious 
concernments."  On  the  12th  day  of  March,  1640, 
the_tMi_lQwns_xinit^  at  Newport,  by  unanimous 
^  agreement  ,  to  form  the  Colony  which,  later,  assumed 

\^        the  name  of  the  Island,  Rhode  Island,  thereby  assur- 
ing the  Primacy  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck  as  a 
\  Democratic  state. 

The  legislation,  accompanying  this  great  act  of  new 
sovereignty  was  as  follows:  "It  is  ordered  that  the 
Chiefe  IMagistrate  of  the  Island  shall  be  called  Gov- 
ernour,  and  the  next  Deputie  Governour,  and  the  rest 
of  the  Magistrates  Assistants,  and  this  to  stand  for 
a  decree."  "It  is  agreed,  that  the  Governour  and  two 
Assistants  shall  be  chosen  in  one  town,  and  the 
Deputy  Governour  and  two  other  Assistants  in  the 
other  town."  "It  is  ordered  that  the  plantation  at  the 
other  end  of  the  Island  shall  be  called  Portsmouth." 

The  folio wing:^fiScer_s_  of  the  new  state  were  then 
elected : 

Governor,  Mr.  William  Coddington. 
Deputy  Governor,  Mr.  William  Brenton. 


136  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Assistants, 

Mr.  Nicholas  Easton, 
Mr.  John  Coggeshall, 
Mr.  WilHam  Hutchinson, 
Mr.  John  Porter. 


Treasurers, 


Mr.  Robert  Jeffreys, 
Mr.  William  Baulston. 


Secretary,  William  Dyer. 
Constable  for  Newport,  Mr.  Jeremy  Clarke. 
Constable  for  Portsmouth,  Mr.  John  Sanford. 
Sergeant,  Henry  Bull. 

It  was  ordered  that  the  Governor  and  Assistants 
be  invested  with  the  powers  and  offices  of  Justice  of 
the  Peace. 

It  was  ordered  that  five  men  be  chosen  to  lay  out 
the  lands  belonging  to  the  town  of  Portsmouth  and 
five  for  Newport. 

By  a  majority  vote  of  each  town,  the  Freemen  were 
authorized  to  select  certain  men  to  allot  the  public 
lands  to  settlers,  and  when  laid  out  to  record  the  same 
at  the  General  Court. 

At  the  General  Court  of  the  two  towns,  held  on 
May  6th,  1640,  at  Newport,  it  was  enacted  as  a  war 
measure,  "that  in  each  Plantation  there  bee  this  forme 
dulie  observed ;  that  as  soone  as  notice  is  given  of  any 
probable     incursion,     that     then     forthwith     Three 


Founding  of  Rhode  Island.  137 

Musketts  be  distinctly  discharged  and  the  Drum  or 
Drummes  incessantly  to  beat  an  Alarum;  and  that 
forthwith  each  Man  bearing  amies  shall  repair  to  the 
coulers  (colors),  which  shall  be  lodged  at  ye  Chief 
Magistrates  Howse  in  each  Plantation,  as  he  will 
answer  at  his  perill."  As  is  well  known,  the  danger 
of  hostile  acts  was  feared  from  the  Indians  and  from 
•the  Dutch,  then  occupying  Manhattan. 

It  was  also  ordered,  that  the  "Particular  Courts, 
consisting  of  Magistrates  and  Jurors  shall  be  holden 
on  the  first  Tuesday  of  each  month ;  and  one  Courte  to 
be  held  at  Newport,  the  other  at  Portsmouth ;  and  the 
sayd  Court  shall  have  full  powre  to  judge  and  deter- 
mine all  such  cases  and  actions  as  shall  be  presented." 

As  students  of  civil  government  lay  great  stress 
upon  the  judicial  functions  of  a  state  it  is  well  to  say 
that,  at  the  outset  of  the  Aquidneck  planting,  a  Judge 
was  the  Chief  Magistrate,  fulfilling  both  civil  and 
judicial  functions,  holding  sessions  of  the  Court,  at 
least  monthly.  Later,  Quarterly  Courts  were  es- 
tablished and  three  Elders  or  Aldermen  were  added 
to  the  Court  and  Magistracy.  After  the  union  of 
Portsmouth  and  Newport,  under  one  general  govern- 
ment, the  judiciary  system  was  revised  and  trial  by 
jury  instituted.  The  magistrates  of  each  town  had 
authority  to  call  a  Court,  every  first  Tuesday  of  each 
month  at  Newport  and  every  first  Thursday  of  each 
month    at    Portsmouth,    wherein    actions    might    be 


138         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  CivArke. 

entered,  juries  empannelled  and  causes  tried,  provided 
it  was  not  "in  the  matter  of  life  and  limb."  An 
appeal  could  be  taken  from  the  lower  or  town  Court 
to  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions,  held  upon  the  four 
Quarter  Days,  which  were  the  first  Tuesday  in  July 
and  the  first  Tuesday  in  January,  the  Wednesday 
after  the  12th  of  March  and  the  Wednesday  after  the 
12th  of  October.  The  last  two  were  styled  Parlia- 
mentary or  General  Courts.  The  Judges  of  these 
several  Courts  followed  the  precepts  of  the  English 
Common  Law  and  all  writs  and  processes  were  ac- 
cording to  English  practise. 

Two  other  important  orders  issued  from  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  held  at  Portsmouth,  August  6th,  1640. 
One  related  to  the  organization,  equipment  and  train- 
ing of  the  militia  or  Train  Bands  of  the  two  towns, 
with  exemptions  and  penalties  prescribed.  This  order 
provided  for  eight  musters  in  each  Plantation  of  one 
day  each  "to  attend  their  coulers  by  eight  of  the  clock 
in  the  morning"  and  "openlie  in  the  field  be  exercised 
by  their  Commanders  and  Officers."  In  addition  to 
the  eight  town  drills  each  year,  two  General  Musters 
were  held,  "one  to  be  disciplined  at  Newport,  the 
other  at  Portsmouth." 

/The  second  order,  perhaps  first  in  importance,  re- 
lated to  town  and  Colony  treasuries  to  the  end,  "that 
each  town  shall  have  a  joynt  and  an  equal  supply  of 
the  Money  in  the  Treasury  for  the  necessary  uses  of 


Founding  of  Rhode  Island. 


139 


the  same,"  the  Governor,  Deputy  Governor  and  one 
Assistant  from  each  town  being  named  to  warrant 
the  receipts  and  expenditures  "according  to  the  de- 
termination of  the  Major  Vote  of  the  Townsmen." 
These  two  general  orders  provided  for  the  financial 
afi'airs  of  towns  and  Colony  and  the  protection  of  the 
people  by  a  disciplined  militia, — both  the  sinews  of 
Peace  and  War. 


140         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


CHAPTER  XL 

Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck,  A  Commonwealth. 

The  union  of  the  two  towns,  Portsmouth  and  New- 
p(5rt,  in  1640,  prepared  the  way  for  the  final  act  in 
the  Declaration  of  Rights  of  a  Colonial  state.  At 
the  General  Court  of  Election  began  and  held  at  Ports- 
mouth, from  the  16th  to  the  19th  of  March,  1641,  the 
two  towns  being  assembled,  enacted  as  follows : 

•*  A  Democratic  State. 

"It  is  ordered  and  unanimously  agreed  upon, 
that  the  Government  which  this  Bodie  Politick 
doth  attend  unto  in  this  Island,  and  the  Juris- 
diction thereof,  in  favour  of  our  Prince  is  a 
DEMOCRACIE,  or  Popular  Government;  that 
IS  TO  SAY,  It  is  in  the  Powre  of  the  Body  of  Free- 
men orderly  ASSEMBLED,  OR  THE  MAJOR  PART  OF 
THEM,  TO  MAKE  OR  CONSTITUTE  JuST  LaWS,  BY 
WHICH  THEY  WILL  BE  REGULATED.  AND  TO  DEPUTE 
FROM  AMONG  THEMSELVES  SUCH  MINISTERS  AS  SHALL 
SEE  THEM  FAITHFULLY  EXECUTED  BETWEEN  MaN  AND 

Man.'' 


Rhode  Island,  A  CommonwEaIvTh.        141 

Religious  Liberty. 

"It  was  Further  ordered  by  the  authority  of 
this  present  Courte,  that  none  bee  accounted  a 
Delinquent  for  Doctrine:  Provided,  it  be  not 
directly  repugnant  to  ye  Government  or  Lawes 
established." 


The  State  Seal. 
"It  is  ordered  that  a  Manual  Seal  shall  be 

PROVIDED  FOR  THE  STATE,  AND  THAT  THE  SiGNETT  OR 

Engraving  thereof,  shall  be  a  Sheafe  of  Arrows 

BOUND  UP,  and  in  THE  LlESS  OR  BOND,  THIS   MOTTO 

indented: 


"Amor  Vincet  Omnia." 
Land  Tenure  on  AquEthneck. 

It  is  Ordered,  BstablisJied  and  Decreed,  nnani- 
mouslie,  that  all  men's  Proprieties  in  their  Lands  of 
the  Island,  and  the  Jurisdiction  thereof,  shall  be  such, 
and  soe  free,  that  neyther  the  State  nor  any  Person 
or  Persons  shall  intrude  into  it,  molest  him  in  itt,  to 
deprive  him  of  anything  zvhatsoever  that  is,  or  shall 
he  zvithin  that  or  any  of  the  bounds  thereof;  and  that 
this  Tenure  and  Propriety  of  his  therein  shall  be  con- 
tinued to  him  or  his;  or  to  zvhomsoever  he  shall  assign 
it  for  Ever. 


142  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

The  election  of  officers  at  this  General  Court,  1641, 
resulted  as  follows: 

Governor,  William  Coddington. 
Deputy  Governor,  William  Brenton. 

John  Coggeshall, 

^     .  ,  Robert  Harding, 

Assistants,  \  ,,..„.       _,     , 

William  Baulston, 

John  Porter. 

Secretary,  William  Dyer. 

(  William  Baulston, 
'  (  Robert  Jeoffreys. 


Sergeants, 
Constables, 


Thomas  Gorton, 
Henrv  Bull. 


Thomas  Cornell, 
Henry  Bishop. 

The  several  acts  of  the  Portsmouth  General  Court, 
March,  1641,  were  the  final  Declaration  of  a  Democ- 
racy in  civil  affairs  with  religious  liberty  in  matters 
spiritual  in  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck. 
The  mind  of  a  master  Statesman  must  have  dictated 
the  two  orders  that  declared  the  principles  of  the 
founders  of  the  two  towns,  parties  to  the  compact. 
In  this  brief  instrument  of  less  than  a  hundred  words 
is  embodied  the  principle  of  Popular  Sovereignty,  the 
doctrine  of  the  Supremacy  of  Just  Lazvs  and  the  al- 
legiance of  the  people  to  the  Magistrates,  chosen  by 
the  major  vote  of  the  electorate. 


Rhode  Isi^and,  A  CommonwEai<th.        143 

Still  further,  no  person  could  be  called  to  judgment 
in  matters  of  religious  faith,  doctrine  or  practise,  un- 
less such  practise  should  be  repugnant  to  the  laws  or 
government  of  the  State. 

We  have  already  seen  that  the  doctrines  of  civil  and 
religious  freedom  had  been  under  debate  for  centuries 
before  the  Pilgrims  crossed  the  Atlantic  and  that 
great  minds  had  declared  and  great  souls  had,  in  the 
face  of  persecution  and  physical  death,  testified  to 
thfeir  faith  in  the  rights  of  man.  Colonial  life  in 
America  had  for  years  experimented  with  certain 
features  of  individual  and  civic  freedom,  but  it  was 
given  to  a  great  body  of  men  and  women,  founders 
of  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck,  setting 
small  estimate  on  doctrinal  polemics  and  erratic  lead- 
ership, with  profound  convictions  and  clear  vision,  to 
found  a  Colonial  Commonwealth,  dedicated  to  civil 
and  soul  liberty,  thereby  establishing  the  first  state  in 
the  world  with  institutions,  laws  and  administration 
in  harmony  with  the  principles  of  Justice,  Equality 

vand  Fraternity  among  men.  To  give  emphasis  to  this 
great  transaction,  the  Decree  of  a  Free  State  was 
adopted  unanimously,  and  sealed  with  the  most  fitting 
motto,  "Anton  Vincet  Omnia, — Love  Will  Conquer 

*  All  Things." 

On  the  17th  of  September,  1641,  at  Newport,  the 
General  Court  of  Freemen  ordered  that  "if  any  Person 
or  Persons  on  the  Island,  whether  Freeman  or  Inhabi- 


144         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

tant,  shall  by  any  meanes,  open  or  covert,  endeavor 
to  bring  in  any  other  Powre  than  what  is  now  estab- 
lished (except  it  be  by  our  Prince  by  Lawfull  com- 
mission), shall  be  accounted  a  delinquent  under  the 
head  of  Perjurie." 

"It  is  ordered  that  the  Law  of  the  last  Court  made 
concerning  Libertie  of  Conscience  in  Doctrine  is  per- 
petuated." 

A  Free  School  in  1640. 

In  testimony  to  the  intelligence  and  farsighted 
policy  of  the  founders  of  the  Colony,  permanent  pro- 
vision was  made  for  education  by  setting  apart  public 
lands,  building  school  houses  and  providing  land  and 
salary  for  a  teacher.  Mr.  Robert  Lenthall  taught  the 
free  school  in  Newport  from  1640  to  1642. 

In  furtherance  of  the  purpose  of  the  founders  to 
procure  a  Royal  Patent  "for  this  Island  and  Islands, 
and  the  lands  adjacent,"  it  was  voted,  at  a  meeting  of 
The  General  Court  of  the  Colony,  held  at  Newport, 
September  19,  1642,  "to  draw  up  Petition  or  Petitions, 
and  to  send  letter  or  letters  for  the  same  end  to  Sir 
Henry  Vane,"  and  a  Committee  was  appointed  for 
the  transaction  of  the  business  consisting  of  Gov. 
Coddington,  Deputy  Gov.  Brenton,  the  Assistants, 
Messrs.  Easton,  Coggeshall,  Porter  and  Baulston, 
William  Dyer,  Capt.  Jeoffreys,  Capt.  Harding  and 
Mr.  John  Clarke.    The  subject  of  a  Royal  Patent  for 


Rhode  Island,  A  Commonwealth.        145 

the  Island  was  first  acted  on  by  the  Freemen  of  New- 
port on  December  17th,  1639,  the  first  year  of  the 
town.  The  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck 
now  affirms  its  purpose  to  secure  a  Patent,  indepen- 
dent of  any  other  community  or  plantation  and  ap- 
points its  chief  officers  a  Committee  to  transact  the 
business  at  the  expense  of  the  Colony.  Rev.  Dr.  Ad- 
lam,  a  Baptist  minister  of  the  John  Clarke  Memorial 
Church  of  Newport,  in  an  address  before  the  New- 
port Historical  Society,  Jan.  19,  1871,  well  interprets 
the  minds  of  the  Founders  as  to  a  Patent  for  Aquid- 
neck. He  said,  ''It  is  evident  that  those  who  first 
settled  Newport  and  Portsmouth  did  not  intend  to 
join  themselves  with  any  other  community,  but  wished 
to  be  alone ;  to  form  their  own  government,  pass  their 
own  laws,  and,  unimpeded,  manage  their  own  affairs ; 
for  they  wished  the  charter  to  embrace  only  the 
Island. 

That  they  meant  to  be  independent  of  all  others,  we 
have  the  direct  testimony  of  Dr.  Clarke ;  for  when  he 
went  to  Plymouth  to  ascertain  if  Aquidneck  fell  with- 
in their  Patent,  he  said  to  the  authorities  of  that  place, 
that  they  were  resolved,  through  the  help  of  Christ, 
to  get  clear  of  all,  and  be  of  ourselves.  They  had  no 
more  intention  of  incorporating  themselves  with 
Roger  Williams  and  his  settlement  than  they  had  of 
incorporating  themselves  with  Plymouth  or  Massa- 
chusetts.   There  was  no  community,  indeed,  that  fully 


146  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

harmonized  with  them.  Their  aim  was  to  found  a 
state  where  Liberty  should  be  seen  to  be  consistent 
with  the  reign  of  Law." 

Under  date  of  March  13,  1644,  the  Freemen  of  the 
Colony,  in  General  Court  assembled  at  Newport,  or- 
dered "that  the  Island  commonly  called  Aquidneck, 
shall  be  from  henceforth  called  the  Isle  of  Rhodes,  or 
Rhode  Island.' 

We  have  reached  the  point  in  our  Story  where  we 
must  introduce  Mr.  Roger  Williams  as  the  principal 
actor.  We  have  stated  that  at  two  sessions  of  the 
General  Court  at  Newport,  one  in  1639  and  again  in 
1642,  the  Freemen  had  taken  action  as  to  a  Patent 
for  the  Acquidneck  territory,  appointing  Committees 
to  solicit  the  aid  of  Sir  Harry  Vane  in  securing  a 
Royal  Patent  of  the  Islands  in  Narragansett  Bay 
from  Charles  the  First.  It  would  give  great  satisfac- 
tion to  know  what  action  was  taken  by  the  two  Com- 
mittees, appointed  to  intercede  with  Sir  Harry  Vane, 
but  no  record  exists  relative  thereto.  All  is  left  to 
conjecture. 

And  now  follows  an  inexplicable  event  in  our  Col- 
onial Story.  In  June  or  July,  1643,  about  nine  months 
after  the  last  action  at  Newport  as  to  a  Patent,  Roger 
Williams  of  Providence  embarked  from  New  York 
for  England  on  "some  unknown  errand  without  in- 
structions from  the  Rhode  Island  Colony  as  to  a  Pa- 
tent and  according  to  Judge  Staples,  "there  is  nothing 


Rhode  Island,  A  Commonwealth.        147 

in  the  records  of  Providence  relative  to  this  (his)  ap- 
pointment." In  fact  it  would  have  been  an  impossi- 
bility for  the  Providence  community  to  act  in  so 
important  a  matter  for  there  was  no  civil  organization 
at  Providence  until  1649,  and  consequently  there 
could  be  no  legal  or  corporate  act  of  such  a  nature 
transacted,  lit  is  absolutely  certain  that  Rhode  Island 
Colony  did  not  seek  or  desire  union  with  the  com- 
munities at  Providence  or  Warwick.  /It  is  also  abso- 
lutely sure  that  had  they  favored  a  joint  Patent  with 
the  small  unorganized  bodies  at  the  head  of  the  Bay 
they  would  have  demanded  the  name  Rhode  Island 
Colony  or  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plantations 
as  fixed  by  the  Charter  of  1663. 

On  September  17th,  1644,  Mr.  Williams  arrived  in 
Boston  with  a  paper  styled  "A  Charter  of  Incorpora- 
tion for  Providence  Plantations  in  the  Narragansett 
Bay  in  New  England."  The  instrument  is  signed  by 
Robert,  Earl  of  Warwick  as  Governor  in  Chief,  fol- 
lowed by  the  names  of  several  Colonial  Commis- 
sioners, among  which  is  the  name  of  H.  Vane.  Ref- 
erence is  made  to  the  towns  of  Providence,  Ports- 
mouth and  Newport,  but  no  mention  is  made  of  the 
Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquidneck.  The  chief 
Xiguaranty  is  civil  government  similar  and  in  no  respect 
differing  in  rights  and  privileges  to  the  provisions  of 
the  Charters  of  Plymouth,  Massachusetts  Bay  and 
other  Colonies.  No  reference  is  made  to  religious 
liberty,  nor  to  Indian  land  titles,  but  "Laws,  Consti- 


148         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

tutions  and  Punishments  for  the  Civil  Government  of 
the  said  Plantations  must  be  conformable  to  the  Laws 
of  England,  so  far  as  the  Nature  and  Constitution  of 
the  place  wrill  admit."  Mr.  Williams'  Charter  was  re- 
ceived with  rejoicing  at  Providence  but  was  uni- 
versally repudiated  b)'  the  settlers  of  Aquidneck.  Mr. 
Williams  had  ignored  the  large  Plantations  on  Rhode 
Island  with  five  times  the  population  and  wealth  of 
Providence  and  had  assumed  to  secure  a  charter  with 
authority  over  Portsmouth  and  Newport  without  the 
consent  or  knowledge  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Island. 
Still  more,  he  had  attached  the  name  Providence  Plan- 
tations to  the  three  settlements,  when,  as  yet.  Provi- 
dence had  no  organized  government,  the  community 
being  merely  a  congeries  of  families,  with  no  recog- 
nized leader  or  head,  and  no  magistracy  of  any  sort. 
Richman  properly  calls  the  Providence  Plantations, 
at  this  time,  a  "non-entity,"  and  it  is  difficult  to  under- 
stand how  Sir  Harry  Vane  could  endorse  the  charter 
of  Providence  Plantations,  knowing  well,  as  he  did, 
the  history  of  the  Island  towns  and  sending  by  Mr. 
Roger  Williams  as  bearer,  the  scathing  letter  of  re- 
proof to  Providence  for  "such  headiness,  tumults,  dis- 
orders and  injustice."  One  would  not  be  surprised  if 
Mr.  Williams  suggested  the  letter,  and  Mr.  Henry  C. 
Dorr  credits  him  with  doing  so. 

Governor  Coddington,  Chief  Magistrate  of  the 
Island  towns,  opposed  the  acceptance  of  the  Williams' 
charter,  in  which  he  was  supported  by  the  majority 


Rhode  Isi^and,  A  CommonwEaIvTh.        149 

of  the  electorate.    Dr.  Clarke,  while  recognizing  Mr. 

Williams'  "headiness"  in  securing  a  charter  without 

sjhe  authority  of  the  great  body  of  the  people,  whom  it 

^  was  supposed  to  benefit,  was  more  favorable  to  its 

acceptance,  and,  after  three  years'  delay,  during  which 

time  no  action  was  taken  under  it,  a  General  Court 

of  Election  was  held  at  Portsmouth,  May  19-21,  1647. 

"It  was  agreed  that  all  should  set  their  hands  to  an 

engagement  to  the  charter,"  an  achievement  of  Dr. 

Clarke's  diplomatic  and  conciliatory  spirit..     It  was 

also   agreed  that   Warwick   should   have   the   same 

,  privileges    as    Providence.      Thus    the    four    towns, 

^  i  Portsmouth,    Newport,    Providence    and    Warwick 

^  came,  by  the  consent  of  all,  to  be  the  Colony  of 

Providence  Plantations. 

The  officers  elected  were: 

President,  John  Coggeshall. 

/  Roger  Williams,  Providence. 

)  John  San  ford,  Portsmouth. 
Assistants,  \  ,„.,,.       ^    , ,.  t,t 

I  vVilham  Coddmgton,  Newport. 

\  Randall  Holden,  Warwick. 

General  Recorder,  William  Dyer. 

Treasurer,  Jeremy  Clarke. 

It  was  ordered  that  an  anchor  be  the  seal  of  the 
Colony. 

It  was  also  voted  that  a  tax  of  £100  be  levied  to 
pay  Mr.  Williams'  expenses  for  obtaining  the  char- 
ter,— £50  from  Newport,  £30  from  Portsmouth  and 


150  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

£20  from  Providence,  indicating  by  the  relative 
amounts  apportioned  the  towns,  that  Providence  had 
one-fifth  the  financial  ability  of  the  Island  towns. 

The  great  act  of  this  first  session  of  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Colony  at  Newport  was  the  adoption 
of  the  first  General  Code  of  Laws  for  the  Colony, 
which  had  been  drawn  up  at  Newport  and  sent  to  the 
several  towns  for  examination.  Judge  Staples,  in  the 
Annals  of  the  Town  of  Providence,  assumes  that  the 
Code  was  drawn  at  Newport,  and  that  this  is  referred 
to  in  the  request  of  the  Committee  as  "the  model  that 
hath  been  lately  shown  unto  us  by  our  worthy  friends 
of  the  Island."  Governor  Arnold  clearly  states  that 
this  Code  was  prepared  by  the  men  of  learning  on 
the  Island.  As  Gov.  Coddington  did  not  favor  the 
adoption  of  the  Charter,  and  would  not  accept  the 
Presidency  under  it,  it  is  fair  to  conclude  that  the  Code 
was  not  his  work.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  Dr.  John 
Clarke,  the  scholar,  was  its  author,  aided  possibly  by 
the  able  Secretary  of  the  Rhode  Island  Colony,  Mr. 
William  Dyer. 

The  Laws,  codified  from  English  Common  Law, 
were  introduced  by  a  Preamble  as  to  Civil  and  Re- 
ligious Liberty,  and  their  tenure  suspiciously  suggests 
their  author. 

It  is  Agreed  by  this  Present  Assembly  thus 
Incorporate,  and  by  this  Present  Act  Declared, 
THAT  THE  Forme  of  Government  Established  in 


Rhode  Island,  A  Commonwealth.        151 
Providence  Plantations  is  DEMOCRATICALL; 

THAT   IS  TO   SAY,   A  GOVERNMENT    HELD   BY   YE   FrEE 

and  voluntarie  consent  of  all,  or  the  greater 
Parte  of  the  Free  Inhabitants. 

The  Next  Order  Guarantees  "Each  Man's 
Peaceable  and  Quiett  Enjoyment  of  His  Right 

AND    LiBERTlE,    notwithstanding    OuR    DIFFERENT 

Consciences,  Touching  the  Truth  as  it  is  in 
Jesus.'' 

The  towns  of  Newport  and  Portsmouth  were  en- 
trusted with  the  duty  of  perfecting  the  means  of 
enforcing  the  Code  and  the  manner  and  time  of  or- 
ganizing monthly  and  quarterly  Courts.  The  trading 
posts  in  the  Narragansett  Country  were  assigned  to 
Newport,  and  that  on  Prudence  to  Portsmouth. 

This  remarkable  Code,  emanated  from  the  Island 
towns  and  as  Governor  Arnold  states,  the  principles, 
— Democracy  and  religious  freedom, — were  "exclu- 
sively Rhode  Island  ( Aquidneck)  doctrines  and  to  her 
belongs  the  credit  of  them  both.".  The  following  re- 
markable testimony  as  to  the  Aquidneck  Code  is  also 
from  the  pen  of  our  Rhode  Island  historian,  Gov. 
Arnold.  "We  hazard  little  in  saying  that  the  digest 
of  1647,  for  simplicity  of  diction,  unencumbered  as 
it  is  by  the  superfluous  verbiage  that  clothes  our 
modern  statutes  in  learned  obscurity ;  for  breadth  of 
comprehension,  embracing  as  it  does  the  foundation 
of  the  whole  body  of  law,  on  every  subject,  which  has 


152  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Ci^arke. 

since  been  adopted;  and  for  vigor,  and  originality  of 
thought  and  boldness  of  expression,  as  well  as  for  the 
vast  significance  and  the  brilliant  triumph  of  the  prin- 
ciples it  embodies,  presents  a  model  of  legislation 
which  has  never  been  surpassed."  Arnold's  History 
of  Rhode  Island,  Vol.  1,  p.  206. 

There  is  one  article  in  this  Code  that  reflects  and 
expresses  most  completely  the  delicate  regard  of  the 
founders  of  the  Island  towns  for  the  consciences  as 
well  as  the  conscience  liberty  of  their  fellows,  and  an- 
ticipating by  several  years  the  advent  of  the  Quakers. 
"Forasmuch  as  the  consciences  of  sundry  men,  truly 
conscionable,  may  scruple  the  giving  or  taking  an 
oath,  and  it  would  be  noways  suitable  to  the  nature 
and  constitution  of  our  place  (who  professeth  our- 
selves to  be  men  of  different  consciences,  and  not  one 
willing  to  force  another)  to  Debar  such  as  cannot  do 
so,  eyther  from  bearing  office  amongst  us,  or  from 
giving  in  testimony  in  a  case  depending,"  it  was  en- 
acted that  an  affirmation  before  a  Judge  of  Record 
should  be  accounted  of  as  full  force  as  an  oath,  so 
sensitive  was  the  Aquidneck  legislators  even  to  anti- 
cipating conditions  not  then  existant. 

The  Code  is  to  be  found  in  Vol.  I,  Rhode  Island 
Colonial  Records,  pages  156-208,  inclusive.  In  its 
text  as  well  as  in  its  preamble  it  confirms  and  main- 
tains the  rights  of  the  people  in  religious  concerns,  as 
did  all  subsequent  legislation  under  the  charter. 


GOV.  WILLIAM  CODDINGTON.  JR. 
1683-1685 


Rhode  Island,  A  Commonwealth.        153 

It  is  certain  that  no  body  of  persons  in  our  Amer- 
ican Colonial  life  put  the  doctrine  of  religious  tolera- 
tion to  so  severe  a  test  as  did  the  disciples  of  George 
Fox,  known  by  the  name  of  Friends  or  Quakers.  As 
Newport  was  well  known  to  them  as  a  place  of  re- 
ligious freedom,  this  town  became  their  City  of 
Refuge,  on  this  side  the  Atlantic.  Hither,  in  1653, 
came  the  Quaker-Pilgrim  Mayflower,  a  little  vessel, 
named  the  Woodhouse,  built  by  an  English  Quaker, 
manned  by  Quakers,  with  a  cargo  of  English  Quakers, 
thirteen  in  all,  two  landing  in  New  York  and  eleven 
in  Newport.  They  were  cordially  welcomed  to  the 
Island,  and  were  treated  fraternally  in  both  towns. 
Their  doctrines  and  conduct  were  so  acceptable  to  the 
people  that  many  converts  were  made  from  among  the 
most  influential,  intelligent  and  wealthy  people  of 
the  Island.  Governor  Coddington,  his  son  William, 
William  Brenton,  Nicholas  Easton,  John  Cranston, 
Henry  Bull,  Walter  Clarke,  John  Easton,  Caleb  Carr, 
William  Wanton,  John  Wanton, — all  of  whom  were 
afterwards  Governors  of  Rhode  Island, — became  the 
disciples  of  George  Fox  and  administered  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Colony,  as  far  as  the  executive  functions 
allowed,  according  to  the  civic  principles  of  their 
faith.  Mary  Dyer,  wife  of  William  Dyer,  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Colony  for  ten  years,  was  among  the 
many  women  who  adopted  the  doctrines  of  the 
Friends,  and  was  hung  therefor  on  Boston  Common, 
in  1660,  for  what  Gov.  Endicott  and  the  Ba;f  Colony 


154  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

regarded  "pernicious  and  dangerous  doctrine."  When 
George  Fox  came  to  New  England  in  1671  he  made 
Newport  his  headquarters  and  the  first  Friends'  Meet- 
ing in  New  England  was  established  by  him,  in  Ports- 
mouth, in  the  vicinity  of  the  original  town  site  of 
Pocasset,  of  1638. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  the  original  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island,  1640,  was  the  only  part  of  New  England  that 
extended  the  hand  of  welcome  and  friendship  to  the 
Quakers,  and  the  only  one  in  which  they  came  into 
political  control,  holding  it  practically  for  nearly  a 
century,  the  last  Quaker  Governor  being  Stephen 
Hopkins,  who  was  also  a  member  of  The  Continental 
Congress  and  a  signer  of  The  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence. The  attitude  of  other  Colonies  and  leading 
individuals  was  hostile  to  the  Friends  even  unto  their 
death.  Roger  Williams,  in  his  polemic  passion,  wrote, 
"I  have  therefore  publicly  declared  myself,  that  a  due 
and  moderate  restraint,  and  punishing  of  these  in- 
civilities (of  the  Quakers),  (though  pretending  con- 
science), is  so  far  from  persecution,  (properly  so 
called),  that  it  is  a  duty  and  command  of  God  unto 
all  mankind,  first  in  families,  and  thence  into  all 
human  societies."  Plymouth  and  Connecticut  exer- 
cised a  "moderate  restraint"  of  the  Quakers  by  whip- 
pings and  banishment,  while  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colony  punished  Quaker  "incivilities"  by  scourgings, 
branding,  torturing,  cutting  off  of  ears  and  public  exe- 
cutions by  hangings  on  Boston  Common. 


Rhode  Island,  A  Commonwealth.         155 

In  1657,  the  Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies 
of  New  England,  in  session  at  Boston,  unanimously 
adopted  a  letter  to  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island,  on 
information  that  "divers  Quakers  are  arrived  this 
summer  at  Rhode  Island  (Newport)  and  entertained 
there,  which  may  prove  dangerous  to  the  Collonies," 
and  requesting  "that  you  remove  those  Quakers  that 
have  been  receaved,  and  for  the  future  prohibite  theire 
cominge  amongst  you."  President  Benedict  Arnold, 
a  non-Quaker,  replied,  saying  among  other  things, 
"And  as  concerning  these  Quakers,  (so-called),  which 
are  now  among  us,  we  have  no  law  among  us  whereby 
to  punish  any  for  only  declaring  by  words,  &c.,  their 
mindes  and  understandings  concerning  the  things 
and  ways  of  God  as  to  salvation  and  an  eternal  condi- 
tion." President  Arnold  promised  to  bring  the  letter 
before  the  General  Assembly  at  its  next  meeting  in 
March,  1658,  at  Portsmouth. 

The  General  Assembly  meeting  on  the  Island,  in 
1658,  returned  a  reply  to  the  Commissioners  in  which 
they  recited  the  ancient  principle  of  religious  liberty 
as  the  foundation  of  the  Colony,  as  follows:  "Now, 
whereas  freedom  of  different  consciences,  to  be  pro- 
tected from  inforcements  was  the  principle  ground  of 
our  charter,  both  with  respect  to  our  humble  suit  for 
it,  and  also  to  the  true  intent  of  the  Honorable  and 
renowned  Parleiment  of  England  in  grantinge  of  the 
same  unto  us;  which  freedom  we  still  prize  as  the 
greatest   happiness    that   men    can    possess    in    this 


156         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

world."  The  letter  asserts  also  the  supremacy  of  the 
civil  law  and  magistracy,  to  both  of  which  Quakers 
with  all  other  inhabitants  are  amenable,  insisting  that 
"theire  may  be  noe  damadge,  or  infringement  of  that 
chiefe  principle  in  our  charter  concerninge  freedome 
of  consciences."  This  letter  to  the  Commissioners  is 
a  splendid  illustration  of  courteous  diplomacy  and  is 
signed  by  John  Sanford,  Clerk  of  the  Assembly. 

Before  taking  leave  of  the  early  ColonialJRefiords, 
we  must  note  the  date  of  Incorporation  of  Providence 
in  a  town  government,  under  date  March  14,  1648- 
1649.  On  the  petition  of  the  freemen  of  the  town  of 
Providence  for  "freedome  and  libertie  to  incorporate 
themselves  into  a  body  politicks,"  the  General  As- 
sembly conferred  unto  "the  free  inhabitants  of  the 
town  of  Providence,  *  *  *  *  a  free  and  absolute 
charter  of  civill  incorporation  and  government,  to  be 
known  by  the  Incorporation  of  Providence  Plantation 
in  the  Narragansett  Bay,  in  New  England,  together 
with  full  power  and  authoritie  to  governe  and  rule 
themselves  and  such  others  as  shall  hereafter  inhabit 
within  anypart  of  said  Plantation,  by  such  a  form  of 
civill  government  as  by  voluntary  consent  of  all,  or 
the  greater  part  of  them,  shall  be  found  most  suitable 
unto  their  state  and  condition."  The  order  for  a  char- 
ter was  signed  by  John  Warner  of  Warwick,  Clerk 
of  the  Assembly. 


Rhode  Island,  A  Commonwealth.        157 

It  will  be  borne  in  mind  that  Portsmouth  organized 
its  town  government  in  1638,  Newport  its  in  1639, 
and  in  1640,  the  two  towns  united  to  form  the  Colony 
of  Rhode  Island.  In  towns  and  Colony,  civil  freedom 
and  liberty  in  religious  concernments  were  clearly  de- 
clared and  absolutely  enforced. 

Providence,  a  community  of  families  from  June, 
1636,  had  not  had  a  civil  officer,  nor  magistrate,  and 
no  form  of  legal  government,  except  as  voted  by  the 
"masters  of  families"  meeting  as  occasion  might 
suggest,  whose  orders  had  no  binding  eflect  upon  the 
community  as  a  whole.  The  oldest  rate  bill  for  taxes 
in  Providence  bears  date  Sept!  1,  '1650.  The  gross 
amount  was  £56,  5s.  Benedict  Arnold  was  assessed 
£5.  The  sum  of  £3,6,8  each  was  assessed  on  William 
Field,  Richard  Scott,  William  Harris,  William 
Arnold  and  William  Carpenter.  Roger  Williams  was 
assessed  £1,  13s.,  4d. 

Hereby  is  clearly  established  the  Primacy  of  the 
Island  towns, — Portsmouth  1638,  eleven  years  in  ad- 
vance of  Providence  in  civil  organization, — Newport 
1639,  ten  years  ahead, — Rhode  Island  Colony  on 
Aquidneck,  1640, — seven  years  earlier  than  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  Williams'  charter  by  the  Island  towns 
in  1647,  and  organization  and  elections  under  it. 


158  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Concerning  Roger  Williams  and  Providence. 

A  discussion  of  the  life  and  character  of  Roger 
Williams  would  lead  us  far  astray  from  the  pur- 
poses of  this  work.  Our  sole  aim  is  to  show  that  at 
Aquidneck.  under  the  leadership  of  Dr.  John  Clarke, 
civil  and  soul-liberty,  as  understood  in  the  seventeenth 
and  eighteenth  centuries,  was  clearly  enunciated,  fully 
established  and  permanently  maintained,  in  advance 
of  any  other  community  of  men,  the  world  over.  In 
establishing  this  proposition,  it  is  not  our  motive  or 
wish  to  diminish,  in  the  least,  the  honor  due  Mr.  Wil- 
liams. That  he  was  a  faithful  co-worker  with  Dr. 
Clarke  is  cheerfully  admitted.  If  Dr.  Clarke's  repu- 
tation as  the  founder  of  a  free  Commonwealth  rested 
on  the  negative  of  a  single  worthy  quality  or  act  of 
Roger  Williams,  I  should  regard  my  study  a  failure. 
His  monument  will  be  built  on  a  more  enduring  basis 
than  the  ruins  of  the  pedestal  of  Mr.  Williams'  fame. 
Our  sole  denial  relates  to  the  claim,  first  publicly  an- 
nounced by  Rev.  Isaac  Backus,  the  Baptist  historian, 
in  1777,  that  at  Providence,  a  civil  state  was  first 
established.  Democratic  in  principle,  and  tolerant  of 
all  religious  tenets,  mainly,  if  not  solely,  by  Roger 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  159 

Williams..  Mr.  Williams  himself,  self-assertive  as 
he  was,  never  made  the  claim.  It  was  never  thought 
by  men  of  his  time,  and  it  remained  unclaimed  for  a 
century  after  Mr.  Williams'  death  and  nearly  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  after  the  banishment  of  Mr.  Williams 
from  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.  It  is  a  fact  worth 
noting,  in  this  connection,  that,  until  very  recently, 
the  advocacy  of  Mr.  Williams'  claim  was  maintained 
in  published  works  chiefly  by  Samuel  G.  Arnold,  Wil- 
liam Gammell,  J.  D.  Knowles,  Rev.  Dr.  Benedict,  Rev. 
Dr.  Edwards,  and  Rev.  Dr.  H.  M.  King,— all  Bap- 
tists and,  severally,  intimately  related  to  the  First 
Baptist  Church  and  Brown  University,  Providence. 

I  propose,  in  this  chapter,  to  set  forth,  without 
much  discussion,  while  suggesting  proofs,  several 
propositions  as  to  Mr.  Williams  and  the  Providence 
Plantations. 

,  Proposition  I.  Roger  Williams  had  no  purpose 
or  motive,  on  leaving  Massachusetts  to  found  a  town 
or  colony  or  to  make  any  experiment  in  civil  govern- 
ment. He  intended  to  become  a  missionary  to  the 
Indians. 

"My  soul's  desire  was  to  do  the  natives  good,  and 
to  that  end  to  have  their  language  (which  I  after- 
wards printed)  and  therefore  desired  not  to  be 
troubled  with  English  company." 

Roger  Williams,  Nov.  17,  1677. 


160         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Proposition  II.  Mr.  Williams  was  a  Congrega- 
tional minister,  and,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one  (1635), 
had  had  no  experience  in  business,  in  civil  afifairs  or 
in  statecraft,  and  made  no  claims  thereto. 

Proposition  III.  Mr.  Williams'  first  plan  led  him 
to  locate  in  Seekonk,  on  lands  granted  him  by  Mas- 
sassoit,  within  the  limits  of  Plymouth  Colony  without 
the  Narragansett  territory.  Here  he  built  and 
planted  as  if  for  permanent  occupation,  until  warned 
to  leave  that  colony. 

Proposition  IV.  Mr.  Williams'  ideal  of  land  con- 
trol was  in  and  through  a  private  corporation,  styled 
a  Proprietory  and  to  that  end  he  became  in  1638,  and 
later,  sole  proprietor  of  extensive  land  rights  as  gratu- 
ities from  the  Narragansett  sachems.  By  "The- 
Initial  Deed,"  he  associated  with  him,  in  joint  owner- 
ship, twelve  of  his  "loving  friends,"  with  power  con- 
ferred to  add  "such  others  as  the  major  part  of  us 
shall  admit  unto  the  same  fellowship  of  vote  with  us." 

Proposition  V.  The  members  of  the  Proprietory 
were  known  under  several  names, — "Proprietors," 
"The  Town  Fellowship,"  and  "Masters  of  Families." 
Suffrage  was  restricted  to  married  men,  who  were 
also  heads  of  families.  Town  meetings  in  Providence 
were  held  and  all  business  was  conducted  by  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Proprietory,  a  voluntary,  private  land  cor- 
poration, with  no  power  to  enforce  its  acts.  This 
Proprietory  existed  about  two  centuries,  Judge  Wil- 


< 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  161 

Ham  R.  Staples  being  the  last  Proprietors'  Clerk.  See 
Staples  "Annals  of  Providence."     In  the  minds  of  the 
early  settlers,  such  large  land  holdings  corresponded 
to  the  fee-tail  estates  of  England,  giving  to  a  few 
'persons  absolute  control  of  all  the  lands  of  the  pro- 
prietory, to  be  disposed  of  as  the  majority  saw  fit. 
Mr.  Williams,  at  the  outset,  proposed  "that  without 
my  consent,  no  person  be  violently  brought  in  and  re- 
/•ceived."     Had  his  plan  prevailed  the  sale  of  the  lands 
1  would  have  been  in  the  control  of  one  man.     As  it 
/  was  the  whole  estate  was  controlled  by  majority  vote 
I  — at  the  outset  by  seven  persons.     It  was  a  land-rich, 
^    purse-poor  aristocracy  of  landlords, — not  a  "Bodie 
Politicke"  or  civil  community  as  at  Aquidneck. 

/  Proposition  VI.  From  1636  to  1651  there  was  no 
civil  organization  or  government  at  Providence,  no 
town  government,  no  constitution,  no  public  officers, 
no  taxes,  no  civil  or  criminal  laws,  no  courts,  no  mag- 
istrates, no  civil  arrests,  no  constable  or  justice,  no 

V  warranty  deed  issued,  no  legal  paper  executed.  In 
an  undated  letter  to  Gov.  Winthrop  IMr.  Williams 
writes  as  to  the  planting  of  "a  few  families  at  New 
Providence ;  We  have  no  Patent,  nor  doth  the  face  of 
magistracy  suit  with  our  present  conditions,"  and 
suggests  the  plan  of  a  government  by  "the  masters 
of  families."  When  Mr.  Williams  named  his  settle- 
ment Providence,  or  when  the  name  was  adopted  by 
the  people  is  not  known.     (Staples). 


162         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

^.  Proposition  VII.     "The  Providence  Compact,"  so 

"'called,  styled  by  Mr.  W.  B.  Weeden  "Rhode  Island's 
Magna  Charta,"  was  not  the  declaration  of  the  Pro- 
prietors of  Providence  as  to  principles  or  policy  in 
civil  or  religious  liberty.  This  document,  quoted  by 
historians  as  the  cornerstone  of  the  first  free  common- 
wealth in  the  world,  is  as  follows : 

We  whose  names  are  here  (under)  desirous  to 

^  INHABITT  IN  YE  TOWN  (oF)  PrOVIDENCE  DO  PROMISE 
TO  SUBJECT  (ourselves)  IN  ACTIVE  OR  PASSIVE  OBEDI- 
ENCE TO  AL(l)  SUCH  ORDERS  OR  AGREEMENTS  AS 
SHALL  (be)  MADE  FOR  PUBLIC  GOOD  OF  o'r  (oUr) 
BODY  IN  AN  ORDERLY  (wAY)  BY  THE  MAJOR  CONSENT 
OF  THE  INHABITANTS  MAYSTERS  OF  FAMILIES  IN(cOR- 
PORATEd)  TOGETHER  INTO  A  TOWNE  FELLOWSHIP 
(and)    OTHERS   WHOME   THEY   SHALL  ADMITT    (uNTO 

them)  only  in  ciull  things. 

This  paper  was  signed  by  thirteen  persons: — 
Richard  Scott,  Thomas  Harris, 

William  Reynolds,  x  mark,Francis  Weekes,  x  mark, 
Chad  Brown,  Benedict  Arnold, 

John  Warner,  Josua  Winsor, 

George  Richard,  William  Wickenden, 

Edward  Cope,  John  Field,  x  mark. 

Thomas  Angell,  x  mark, 


V^ 


This  document  has  cut  a  large  figure  in  the 
claims  made  for  Roger  Williams  as  to  civil  liberty. 
Let  us  study  it. 


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THE   PETITION    OF   RICHARD    SCOTT  AND   OTHERS 

TO   BECOME   INHABITANTS   OF   PROVIDENCE 

DATE   NOT   KNOWN 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  163 

First.  It  is  not  dated  and  is  usually  claimed  to 
have  been  executed  in  1637.  As  Chad  Brown,  the 
third  signer,  did  not  land  at  Boston  until  August, 
1638,  and  the  date  of  his  arrival  at  Providence  is  un- 
certain, some  later  date  must  be  assigned  than  the 
settlement  at  Aquidneck  in  April,  1638. 

Second.  It  is  in  the  hand  writing  of  Richard 
Scott,  the  first  signer,  a  man  not  a  "loving  friend"  of 
Mr.  Williams,  at  first  a  Baptist  and  a  leading  man  in 
the  settlement. 

s.     Third.     It  was  a  petition  of  thirteen  men  to  become 
inhabitants  of  Providence. 

Fourth.  It  was  a  recognition  of  the  government 
of  the  town  by  "the  maysters  of  families,  incorporated 
together  into  a  town  fellowship." 

Fifth.  It  was  a  promise  of  "active  or  passive 
obedience"  to  the  order  of  the  "maysters  of  families." 

Sixth.     It  established  a  limit  to  the  orders  or  agree- 

V     ments  of  the  Town  Fellowship,  by  the  words,  "Only  in 

ciuill  things,"  and  also  by  the  words,  "o'r  (our)  body." 

Seventh.  This  petition  and  pledge  was  made  to 
Mr.  Williams  and  his  "loving  friends," — proprietors, 
"maysters  of  families,"  "the  town  fellowship  of  New 
Providence,"  expressing  the  attitude  of  thirteen  per- 
sons, there  being  no  evidence  that  the  petitioners  were 
accepted  under  the  terms  proposed. 


164 


The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


It  is  well  known  that  Mr.  Williams,  in  an  undated 
letter  to  Governor  John  Winthrop  of  Massachusetts 
had  proposed  "  a  double  subscription"  for  "your  lov- 
ing counsel,"  the  first  concerning  "masters  of  fam- 
ilies," the  other  concerning  those  few  young  men,  and 
any  who  shall  hereafter  by  your  favourable  conni- 
vance, desire  to  plant  with  us."  In  neither  subscrip- 
tion as  written  by  Roger  Williams  do  the  words  "only 
in  ciuill  things"  appear.  In  this  letter  Mr.  Williams 
suggests  that  against  my  consent,  no  person  be  vio- 
lently brought  in  or  received."  Below  may  be  noted 
the  parallellisms  and  differences  between  the  Wil- 
liams Subscription,  and  the  Richard  Scott  Petition. 
Roger  Williams  Sub-  The  Scott  Petition, 
scription.  We  whose  names  are 

We  whose  names  are  here  (under)  desirous  to 
hereunder  written,  being  inhabitt  in  ye  town  (of) 
desirous  to  inhabit  in  this  Providence  do  promise  to 
town  of  New  Providence,  subject  (ourselves)  in  ac- 
do  promise  to  subject  our-  tive  or  passive  obedience 
selves  in  active  or  passive  to  al(l)  such  orders  or 
obedience  to  such  orders  agreements  as  shall  (be) 
and  agreements  as  shall  made  for  public  good  of 
be    made    from    time    to     ^r  (our)  body  in  an  or- 


time,  by  the  greater  num- 
ber of  the  present  house- 
holders of  this  town,  and 
such  whom  they  shall  ad- 
mit into  the  same  fellow- 
ship and  privilege.  In  wit- 
ness whereof,  etc. 


derly  (way)  by  the  major 
consent  of  the  inhabitants 
maysters  of  families  in- 
(corporated)  together  in- 
to a  town  fellowship 
(and)  others  whom  they 
shall  admit  (unto  them) 
only  in  ciuill  things. 


/ 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  165 

The  noticeabale  diflerences  are  the  phrases  "O'r 
(our)  body,"  "in  an  orderly  way,"  "maysters  of  fam- 
ilies," and  "only  in  ciuill  things,"  and  are  explainable 
as  follows.  Most  of  the  thirteen  persons  were  of  the 
Baptist  faith,  to  which  "our  body,"  undoubtedly  re- 
fers. The  Baptists  were  strenuous  defenders  of 
liberty  in  religious  concerns.  Richard  Scott  was  a 
Baptist,  and  was  opposed  to  the  general  policy  and 
spirit  of  Mr.  Williams.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Williams  had  left  the  Baptists  and  become  a  "Seeker," 
and  as  William  Harris  and  others  of  the  "Town  Fel- 
lowship" had  little  sympathy  with  the  religious  ele- 
ment of  the  settlement,  there  was  need  of  a  proviso, 
"only  in  ciuill  things,"  to  protect  "our  body,"  "in  an 
orderly  way,"  from  the  action  of  the  "maysters  of 
families,"  inasmuch  as  there  was  no  legal  protection 
and  no  constable  or  other  officer  to  enforce  the  acts 
of  the  Proprietors.  All  rights  rested  on  mutual  agree- 
'  ments  and  the  pledges  of  the  parties  in  interest  and 
their  enforcement  was  a  matter  of  voluntary  con- 
sideration. 

So  weak  was  the  hold  of  this  government  of  "the 
maysters  of  families,"  and  "wanting  in  that  energy 
necessary  to  preserve  the  peace  and  ensure  prosper- 
ity," (Staples)  it  was  agreed,  in  1640,  to  establish  a 
"Court  of  Arbitration"  to  settle  all  diflerences  as  to 
lands  and  other  matters  in  dispute.  Chad  Brown, 
Robert  Cole  and  William  Harris  were  the  leaders  in 
the  establishment  of  this  voluntary  tribunal,  as  an 


166  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

adjunct  of  a  voluntary  association,  in  an  "attempt  to 
live  without  law  and  govern  without  a  government." 
(Dorr). 

Judge  Staples  says  of  the  new  plan  by  arbitration : 
"The  new  system,  by  its  weakness  and  lack  of  energy, 
gave  rise  to  difficulties,  which,  to  some  of  the  inhabi- 
tants seemed  inherent  and  insurmountable.  The 
great  liberty  which  all  enjoyed  was  abused  by  some 
to  licentiousness."  *  *  *  *  Some  claimed  the  right  to 
do  with  impunity  whatsoever,  they  said,  conscience 
dictated.  Others  were  accused,  at  the  time,  of  deny- 
ing all  power  in  magistrates."     Staples  Annals. 

So  weak  and  inefficient  was  the  new  scheme  that 
the  existence  of  the  Plantation  at  Providence  was 
threatened  and  as  a  result,  thirteen  of  the  inhabitants, 
on  the  17th  of  November,  1641,  "by  fear  of  utter  de- 
struction of  the  settlement,"  wrote  a  letter  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  praying  them 
"of  gentle  courtesy  and  for  the  preservation  of  hu- 
manity and  mankind"  to  consider  their  condition  and 
to  lend  them  "  a  neighborlike  helping  hand,"  to  en- 
force the  execution  of  an  award  made  by  "eight  men 
orderly  chosen,"  against  one  of  the  inhabitants  in  a 
civil  matter.  The  Bay  Colony  replied  that  they  would 
not  attempt  to  aid  them  unless  they  "did  submit  them- 
selves" to  their  jurisdiction.  As  a  result  William 
Arnold,  William  Carpenter,  Robert  Cole,  Benedict 
Arnold  and  others  "subjected  themselves  and  lands" 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  167 

to  the  ]\Iassachusetts  government,  while  Samuel  Gor- 
ton, John  Greene  and  others  purchased  Shawomet  of 
the  Indians  and  withdrew  to  found  a  new  settlement, 
Warwick. 

It  may  be  a  surprise  to  many  to  learn  that  in  an 
original  letter  of  Mr.  Williams'  to  the  town  of  Provi- 
dence dated  June  15,  1681,  at  the  age  of  81,  he  "prays 
the  town,"  "That  our  ancient  use  of  arbitration  be 
brought  in  esteem  again."  He  also  "prays"  "That  ye 
old  custom  of  order  be  kept  in  our  meetings  and  ye 
unruly  be  reproved  or  upon  obstinasee  cast  out  from 
sober  and  free  mens  company."  Can  this  purpose 
relate  to  persons  of  tender  consciences? 

Concerning  affairs  civil  and  religious  at  Providence 
from  1640  to  1651,  the  testimony  is  abundant  and 
conclusive  that  there  was  neither  legal,  moral  or  re- 
ligious restraint  there.  During  a  long  period,  from 
1643  to  1654,  Mr.  Williams  was  absent  from  Provi- 
dence, twice  on  journeys  to  England,  and  for  the 
larger  portion  of  the  time  at  his  trading  house  at 
Narragansett,  near  Wickford. 

In  the  letter  Mr.  Williams  wrote  to  his  wife,  Mary, 
upon  her  recovery  from  a  dangerous  sickness,  he 
writes,  probably  from  Narragansett,  before  1652, 
"My  dear  love,  since  it  pleaseth  the  Lord  so  to  dis- 
pose of  me  and  of  my  affairs  at  present,  that  I  cannot 
often  see  thee,  I  desire  often  to  send  to  thee." 


168         The  Story  op  Dr.  John  Ci,arke. 

Judge  Staples  writes  as  to  Providence  in  addition 
to  the  quotations  above:  "A  great  distrust  and  jeal- 
ousy of  delegated  power";  "the  feuds  and  divisions 
that  had  disturbed  and  hindered  the  growth  of  Provi- 
dence"; "Every  individual  was  left  as  before  not 
only  to  decide  on  his  own  but  on  every  other  person's 
acts,  whether  the  same  were  according  to  the  letter 
and  spirit  of  the  agreements";  "This  year  (1651)  is 
the  first  record  of  any  choice  of  town  officers."  "Roger 
Williams'  deed  was  ambiguous,  vague  and  uncertain." 
"Strife  and  contention  between  themselves  (Provi- 
dence settlers)  divided  them  into  parties,  and  weak- 
ened and  almost  destroyed  the  system  of  government 
which  they  had  established." 

Sir  Harry  Vane  remonstrates  with  Mr.  Williams 
as  late  as  1654;  "How  is  it  there  are  such  divisions 
amongst  you?  Such  headiness,  tumults,  injustice? 
*  *  *  *  Are  there  no  wise  men  amongst  you,  who  can 
find  out  some  way  or  means  of  union  and  reconcilia- 
tion for  you  amongst  yourselves,  before  you  become 
a  prey  to  common  enemies?" 

As  late  as  October,  1669,  two  certificates  from  two 
town  clerks  of  Providence,  in  relation  to  the  election 
of  deputies,  were  presented  to  the  General  Assembly. 
One  certified  that  there  had  been  no  election  and  the 
other  contained  the  names  of  four  deputies,  who  had 
been  chosen  to  that  ofiice.  The  General  Assembly 
passed  an  act,  the  preamble  of  which  rehearsed  "the 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  169 

grievous  symptoms  that  appear  of  the  dangerous  con- 
tests, distractions  and  divisions  amongst  our  ancient, 
loving  and  honored  neighbors,  the  freemen,  inhabi- 
tants of  Providence,  whereby  the  said  town  is  ren- 
dered in  an  incapacity  of  transacting  their  own  affairs 
in  any  measure  of  satisfactory  order  with  peace  and 
quietness,  and,  consequently,  unable  to  help  in  the 
managing  and  ordering  of  public  affairs  by  deputies 
that  ought  to  be  by  them  sent  to  the  General  Assembly, 
and  jurymen  to  the  courts  of  trials,  whereby  there  is 
or  seems  to  be  a  break  in  the  whole."  It  was  affirmed 
that  the  cause  of  these  conditions  arose  "from  dis- 
agreement and  dissatisfaction  about  divisions  and  dis- 
positions of  lands,  wherein  it  is  impossible  either  party 
can  be  clear  from  giving  and  taking  offence." 

A  committee  of  Aquidneck  deputies  was  appointed 
to  proceed  to  Providence  "to  endeavor  to  presuade 
them  to  a  loving  composure  of  their  differences,"  but 
was  unsuccessful  in  securing  peace  and  unity. 

It  is  a  matter  of  authentic  history  that  the  land 
controversies,  growing  out  of  what  Judge  Staples 
styles  "the  vague,  ambiguous  and  uncertain"  terms  of 
the  Williams  deed  were  not  finally  settled  until  the 
early  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  and  then  only  by 
act  of  Parliament. 

Proposition  VII.  Roger  Williams  did  not,  in  any 
recorded  form,  utter  any  distinct  statement  as  to 
libertv  of  conscience,  in  relation  to  the  settlers  or  the 


170         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

civil  and  business  polity  of  the  settlement  at  Provi- 
dence, nor  did  he  discriminate  between  conscience 
liberty  and  religious  liberty  in  his  work  in  attempting 
-  to  organize  civil  society.     By  reason  of  this  failure  he 
(  created  an  "immoralism  based  on  the  idea  that  the 
individual  has  a  right  to  express  his  personality,  with- 
out in  any  way  considering  the  claims  of  the  com- 
\  munity  of  which  he  forms  a  part." 

_--^As  a  consequence  men  of  disordered  and  depraved 
V  consciences  found  a  ready  asylum  at  Providence. 
One  man's  conscience  allowed  him  to  beat  his  wife 
frequently  and  cruelly.  Another's  conscience  did  not 
recognize  the  Christian  Sabbath.  Another's  con- 
science forbade  the  payment  of  taxes.  All  refused 
magistracy,  on  grounds  of  conscience  freedom.  Steal- 
ing from  the  common  lands  of  the  Proprietors  was 
sustained  by  the  same  principle.  Every  form  of  civil 
disorder  was  practiced  and  tolerated  at  Providence, 
on  the  ground  that  each  man's  conscience  was  the 
arbiter  as  to  his  conduct  and  that  neither  law  nor 
magistrate  should  interfere.  Judge  Staples,  the  an- 
nalist of  Providence,  tells  us  that,  in  1672,  when  for 
the  first  time,  deputies  to  the  General  Assembly  were 
required  to  take  the  oath  of  ofifice,  it  was  "to  the  great 
dissatisfaction  of  the  good  people  of  Providence,  who 
protested  against  it"  on  the  ground  "it  is  contrary  to 
the  liberties  granted  to  us  in  our  charter,  our  charter 
not  binding  us  to  any  such  thing,  and  many  persons 
scrupling  such  impositions  to  be  imposed  on  them." 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  171 

For  a  fuller  revelation  of  the  singular  conduct  of 
"distressed  consciences"  at  Providence,  even  to  fight- 
ings and  deeds  of  violence,  reference  is  made  to  Vol. 
IX.,  Collections  of  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  So- 
ciety, entitled  "The  Proprietors  of  Providence  and 
Their  Controversies  with  the  Freeholders,  by  Henry 
C.  Dorr,  1897.  For  the  purpose  of  testimony  on  most 
vital  matters  relating  to  the  "immoralism"  of  the  doc- 
trine of  "conscience  liberty,"  as  illustrated  in  the 
"lively  experiment"  inaugurated  by  Mr.  Williams  at 
Providence,  it  furnishes  abundant  proof  that  an 
asylum  for  weak,  erring  or  diseased  consciences  is  not 
a  safe  place  to  establish  a  Democracy,  with  full  re- 
ligious freedom.  Such  a  class  of  people  have  in  all 
times  and  in  all  places  fostered  discord,  tumult, 
anarchy.  "Poor  Providence,"  as  Mr.  Williams  often 
lamentingly  called  it,  was  not  an  exception  to  the  law. 

Here  then,  at  Providence,  was  a  turbulent  com- 
munity, committing  deeds  of  violence,  unchecked  by 
laws,  in  no  sense  a  state  or  colony  characterized  by 
"organized,  legalized  morality,"  and  all  the  product 
of  a  loose  regard  for  rights  of  property  or  civil  re- 
straints. To  call  it  a  free  Commonwealth  would  be  a. 
sad  degredation  of  a  noble  title. 

Proposition  VIII.  In  1643,  Mr.  Williams,  moved 
by  the  discords  and  strife  at  Providence,  of  his  own 
motion,  journeyed  to  London  for  a  Patent  or  charter. 
Aided  by  Sir  Harry  Vane  he  obtained  what  is  known 


172         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Ci^arke. 

as  the  Roger  Williams  Patent  of  1644.     We  would 
expect  that  an  eminent  expounder  of  conscience  lib- 
erty, by  the  aid  of  Vane  would  procure  an  instrument 
1     clearly  guaranteeing  such  liberty.     What  do  we  find 
in  the  Patent  of  1643-4?     There  is  not  a  syllable  re- 
ferring to  freedom  of  conscience,  soul  liberty  or  re- 
l  ligious  freedom,  nor  did  it  contain  any  grant  of  land. 
I  It  was  a  simple  document,  in  usual  form,  empowering 
'  the  planters  to  rule  themselves  as  English  subjects, 
with  the  bounds  of  their  civil  jurisdiction  "so  vague, 
ambiguous  and  uncertain,"  as  to  invite  occupation  of 
the  Narragansett  Country  by  the  Atherton  Company 
of  Boston  on  the  east,  and  the  Connecticut  settlers 
on  the  west. 

With  an  assumption  of  authority  unparalleled  in 
American  history,  Mr.  Williams  caused  the  Aquid- 
neck  Colony  to  be  incorporated  with  the  Providence 
Proprietory  under  the  title  of  the  Colony  of  Provi- 
dence Plantations,  when  as  yet  Providence  had  no 
legal  existence,  save  as  a  voluntary  association  of 
shareholders  in  a  land  corporation,  with  an  annex  of 
a  community  of  "distressed  consciences."  As  a 
matter  of  fact.  Providence  never  had  a  distinct 
Colonial  life,  and  no  corporate  life  until  1649,  thir- 
teen years  after  its  settlement  by  Mr.  Williams  and 
five  companies. 

Proposition  IX.  Roger  Williams  and  his  asso- 
ciates developed  at  Providence  the  spirit  of  individ- 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  173 

ualism,  an  inheritance  transmitted  in  large  measure 
to  the  later  inhabitants  o£  Providence  Plantations. 
Mr.  Richman  writes:  "Now  that  the  island  of  Aquid- 
neck  had  become  a  political  entity,  the  contrast  be- 
tween it  and  the  entity  (or  non-entity)  Providence 
was  marked  in  the  extreme.  By  Providence  there 
was  symbolized  individualism — both  religious  and 
political — a  force  centrifugal,  disjunctive,  and  even 
disruptive.  By  Aquidneck  (and  especially  by  the 
Newport  part  of  it)  there  was  symbolized  collectivism 
— a  collectivism  thoroughly  individualized  as  to  re- 
ligion, but  in  politics  conjunctive  and  centripetal.  *  * 
*  *  During  the  age  of  Roger  Williams  that  which  we 
are  bidden  to  contemplate  on  the  shores  of  Narragan- 
sett  Bay  is  a  struggle  for  supremacy  between  sepa- 
ratism and  collectivism."  Prof.  Masson  describes 
Mr.  Williams  as  "the  arch-individualist."  As  such, 
he  certainly  lived  to  see  the  influence  of  his  teachings 
as  conducive  of  anarchy,  and  not  of  Democracy. 

Proposition  X.  A  just  estimate  of  Mr.  Williams' 
abilities  and  character  is  the  key  to  his  successes  and 
failures.  The  final  verdict  of  history  must  deal  with 
the  essential,  governing  principles  of  the  man's  life. 
A  multitude  of  friends  and  critics  during  a  period  of 
three  centuries  afford  sufficient  evidence  for  a  candid 
and  unbiased  judgment. 

In  intellectual  ability  and  training,  Mr.  Williams 
excelled.     His   sanguine   temperament   made   him   a 


174         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

quick  observer  of  men  and  things.  His  large  com- 
bativeness,  coupled  with  supreme  egotism  and  the 
callowness  of  youth,  led  him  to  polemic  excesses  in 
his  early  life,  which  age  and  experience  in  a  measure 
checked.  John  Quincy  Adams  characterized  him  as 
"conscientiously  contentious."  Mr.  W.  B.  Weeden 
speaks  of  "the  vagaries  of  his  individual  will."  Mr. 
Williams  was  wanting  in  the  judicial  spirit.  Thomas 
Durfee  states  that  "historians  urge  that  he  was  eccen- 
tric, pugnacious,  persistant,  troublesome ;  undoubtedly 
he  was."  He  was  a  diplomat  in  the  Indian  camp,  but 
not  among  English  peoples.  He  was  generous  to  a 
fault  and  often  sacrificed  his  own  comfort  of  mind 
and  body  for  others.  He  was  not  a  selfish  man  and 
was  self- forgetful  in  the  disposal  of  lands  and  money. 
Mr.  Weeden  says  "He  was  a  good  man  of  business 
in  his  private  affairs,"  but  he  died  a  poor  man,  not- 
withstanding. 

In  constructive  state-craft,  Mr.  Williams  was  an 
absolute  failure.  Not  a  vestige  of  institutional, 
political  or  social  life  of  his  founding  exists  today. 
Weeden  writes,  truthfully,  "Williams  was  not  skillful 
or  wise  in  politics."  He  attempted  a  feudal  estate  of 
his  Moshassuck  lands,  under  his  own  control  as  lord 
of  the  manor.  Failing  in  this,  he  converted  his  vast 
holdings  into  a  Proprietory  of  married  men  with 
children,  the  male  head  of  the  household  alone  having 
property  rights  or  the  right  of  franchise.  He  invited 
young  men  from  other  colonies  to  come  to  Providence, 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  175 

but  denied  them  lands  and  the  privilege  of  voting. 
Even  Samuel  Gorton,  the  founder  of  Warwick,  w^hom 
our  state  historian,  Samuel  G.  Arnold,  pronounces 
"One  of  the  most  remarkable  men  that  ever  lived," 
was  refused  admission  as  an  inhabitant  of  Provi- 
dence. Men  "distressed  in  conscience"  were  invited 
to  Providence  to  become  sharp  thorns  in  the  sides  of 
the  Proprietory.  A  voluntary  government  by  "house- 
holders" gives  way  at  Providence  to  an  equally  useless 
and  ineffective  voluntary  "Board  of  Arbitration,"  and 
"Poor  Providence"  waits  fifteen  years,  until  1651, 
before  it  has  legal  town  officers.  (Staples).  At  no 
time  in  the  history  of  Providence,  after  the  formation 
of  the  Proprietory,  did  Mr.  Williams  hold  control  in 
business,  civil  or  religious  affairs,  as  against  William 
Harris,  Thomas  Olney  and  the  proprietors  of  the 
town. 

In  religious  concerns  and  conscience  freedom,  the 
realm  of  Mr.  Williams'  accepted  supremacy,  much 
could  be  said,  little  will  be.  Roger  Williams  came  to 
Providence  an  ordained  minister  of  the  Orthodox 
Congregational  faith.  In  1639,  he  was  immersed  by 
Ezekiel  Holliman,  a  lay  member  of  the  Baptist  order 
from  Salem,  and  united  with  eleven  other  Baptists, 
in  the  formation  of  a  church.  Three  or  four  months 
later,  questioning  the  validity  of  his  baptism  by  a  lay- 
man rather  than  a  priest,  he  withdrew  from  the  Bap- 
tists and  became,  as  he  styled  himself  a  "Seeker,"  for 
the  rest  of  his  life.     As  a  "Seeker"  he  was  amenable 


176         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

to  no  sect,  outside  the  pale  of  all,  and.  having  no  ac- 
cepted standard  of  belief,  could  not  reasonably  criti- 
cize others.  "In  Roger  Williams,  independency  had, 
in  1639,  become  Seekerism,  the  ne  plus  ultra  of  re- 
ligious individualism."  (Richman).  Little  account 
appears  of  Mr.  Williams  as  a  religious  teacher,  after 
1640.  There  is  no  valid  ground  for  claiming  Mr. 
Williams  as  the  founder  of  the  First  Baptist  Church 
of  Providence  or  of  his  being  its  first  minister.  Judas 
Iscariot  was  a  disciple  of  Jesus  for  about  three  years 
but  he  has  never  been  called  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Christian  church.  I\Ir.  Williams  renounced  his 
baptism  after  an  experience  of  four  months  with  men 
of  little  knowledge  in  church  or  state,  and  then  styles 
himself  a  "Seeker"  and  is  claimed  as  the  founder  of 
that  sect  in  England.  It  is  a  travesty  of  history  to 
call  Mr.  Williams  a  Baptist,  when  he  did  not  pass  the 
probationary  stage  for  membership.  From  1644  to 
1652,  he  seems  to  have  dwelt  at  his  trading  house  at 
Narragansett,  as  a  neighbor  of  Richard  Smith  and 
the  Narragansett  tribe  of  Indians. 

It  is  difficult  to  discover  Mr.  Williams'  attitude  as 
to  conscience  freedom  at  Providence  for  we  find  no 
declaration  from  him  by  lip  or  pen  as  to  the  matter. 
We  find  the  terms  "liberty  of  conscience,"  and  "dis- 
tressed consciences"  in  the  writings  of  that  day,  but 
these  terms  are  too  "vague,  ambiguous"  and  fugitive 
to  command  serious  attention,  except  to  call  attention 
to  what  seems  to  have  been  Mr.  Williams'  personal 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  177 

attitude  as  to  the  matter  of  conscience  freedom.  In 
his  early  life,  Islr.  Williams  made  the  individual  con- 
science superior  to  the  community  conscience.  When 
such  a  notion  prevails,  there  can  be  no  lavv^,  no  courts, 
no  magistracy,  as  was  the  case  in  Providence  from 
1636  to  1651,  and  even  later.  It  was  the  period  of 
anarchy,  when  every  man  was  free  to  act  without 
legal  or  civic  restraint. 

Later  in  life,  in  the  parable  of  the  ship  at  sea,  Mr. 
Williams  declares  that  there  can  be  no  true  liberty  of  . 

conscience  except  in  obdience  to  law,  the  individual  y 

conscience  submitting  to  the  community  conscience. 
Here  he  claims  that  the  supremacy  of  the  majority  y(^ 
conscience  must  be  maintained.  This  was  the  teach- 
ing of  Locke  and  all  other  right-minded  teachers  of 
ethics,  ancient  or  modern.  In  one  of  the  Massachu- 
setts court  rooms,  this  motto  hangs  over  the  Judge's 
chair,  "Here  speaketh  the  conscience  of  the  state,  re- 
straining the  individual  will." 

So  far  as  conscience  liberty  is  considered  in  the 
history  of  Mr.  Williams,  it  may  be  found  in  and 
limited  to  the  academic  discussions  of  his  polemical 
writings,  issued  in  1644  and  thereafter.  Chapter  III. 
on  Conscience  Liberty  and  Sou!  Liberty  should  be 
read  in  this  connection. 

The  best  test  of  the  philosophy  of  Mr.  Williams  is 
to  be  found  in  the  practical  results  of  his  teachings 
and  labors  at  Providence.     The  following  quotations 


178         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

as  to  civil,  social  and  moral  conditions  are  to  be  found 
in  Staples,  Weeden,  Dorr,  Carpenter,  Arnold  and 
others.  "It  (Providence)  was  without  skilled,  arti- 
zans,  mechanics  or  professional  men,  and,  save  Wil- 
liams, it  had  no  man  of  liberal  education.  It  had  no 
coercive  authority — ^had  not  even  a  constable,  but  was 
merely  a  voluntary  association.  It  was  subject  from 
its  earliest  days  to  violent  discontents  and  disturb- 
ances." (D. )  "Controversies  were  numerous  and 
acrid."  "Stealing  by  the  small  freeholders  from  the 
common  lands  was  constant."  Enmity  between  classes 
went  on."  "Disorders  began  at  an  early  day  and 
the  town  had  no  courts  or  magistrates  to  repress 
them."  "There  were  here  young  men  discontented 
with  their  political  disabilities."  "The  town  fellow- 
ship was  at  an  end." 

"The  settlers  did  not  care  enough  about  ministers 
or  denominations  to  fight  either  for  or  against  them." 
"Daily  tumults  and  affrays."  "The  peace  of  the 
town  was  at  an  end."  "The  tide  is  too  strong  against 
us  and  I  feare  (if  the  framer  of  hearts  help  not)  that 
it  will  force  me  to  little  Patience,  a  little  isle  near  to 
your  Providence."  R.  W.  to  J.  W.  "The  Proprietors 
who  had  converted  his  (R.  W.)  public  trust  into  a 
land  speculation."  "Attempts  in  Providence  to  live 
without  law  and  govern  without  government."  "Wil- 
liams rarely  suffered  his  personal  resentments  to 
grow  cool."  "Private  owners  were  not  permitted  to 
sell  their  lands  without  consent  of  the  town."     "The 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  179 

Proprietors  began  to  use  the  prohibition  to  fell  timber 
trees  as  a  restraint  upon  shipbuilding  and  commerce." 
"The  inferior  freemen  bore  an  undue  share  of  the 
public  burdens  of  both  town  and  colony  rates."  "The 
transfers  of  property  were  without  formality  or  pre- 
cision. No  deed  was  thought  necessary  until  the 
days  of  the  second  charter."  (1663.)  Little  regard 
was  paid  to  the  Sabbath  as  a  day  of  rest  or  worship. 
Profanity  and  lewdness  of  conduct  were  common. 
Small  regard  was  paid  to  rights  of  person  or  prop- 
erty. Mr.  Williams'  judgments  of  his  associates  and 
townspeople  were  hasty  and  ill-tempered.  Little  re- 
gard was  paid  his  opinions,  which  were  vacillating 
and  inconstant. 

His  mental  attitude  was  alert,  vigorous,  polemic. 
His  sanguine  temper  tended  to  quick  decisions,  while 
his  honesty  of  mind  compelled  frequent  reversions  of 
opinion,  and  laid  him  open  to  the  charge  of  incon- 
stancy and  fickleness.  Wanting  a  logical  mind,  his 
premises  and  conclusions  were  often  at  variance. 
Wanting  a  judicial  mind,  he  failed  in  council.  Want- 
ing an  exactness  in  thought  and  action,  due  to  tem- 
perament and  education,  his  statements,  official  acts 
and  correspondence  are  often  only  half  truths.  He 
was  little  versed  in  business  matters  and  had  small 
legal  knowledge.  His  moral  character  was  pure  and 
without  guile.  He  possessed  a  province,  and,  for 
want  of  a  practical  business  faculty  and  worldly  sa- 
gacity, died  in  poverty.     ]\laking  few   friends  and 


180         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

fewer  confidants,  he  absolutely  failed  in  leadership 
and  lost  the  crown  which  he  might  have  honestly 
claimed.  A  separatist  in  faith,  and  an  ardent  ad- 
vocate of  a  free  church  in  a  free  commonwealth — 
civil  and  religious  liberty, — he  sacrificed  his  idealism 
yon  the  altar  of  self-will,  lost  the  material  goods  for 
which  he  so  firmly  and  unselfishly  contended  for  a 
life  time,  and  for  the  sake  of  personal  peace,  accepted 
self-banishment  as  an  antidote  to  strife. 

Profiting  by  the  hard  experiences  of  a  long  life 
struggle  with  his  own  mistakes  and  the  hard  knocks 
of  adversaries,  in  his  own  civil  household,  he  was 
too  honest,  too  conscientious,  too  just  and  too  mag- 
nanimous not  to  recognize  the  success  of  those,  in  an- 
other portion  of  the  commonwealth,  who  had  organ- 
ized and  put  in  practical  operation  the  principles 
which  he  had  in  various  and  variable  ways  advocated. 
Mr.  Williams'  treatment  of  the  Quakers  is  a  perfect 
illustration  of  his  character  and  mental  habit.  New- 
port had  for  twenty  years  been  the  home  of  the 
Quakers  in  the  American  Colonies.  At  the  age  of 
seventy-two,  despite  his  ideas  as  to  liberty  of  con- 
science and  civil  rights,  despite  the  infirmities  of  body, 
with  small  charity  and  large  hatred  and  intolerance 
he  decided  to  assault  George  Fox  and  his  trusty,  peace 
loving  disciples,  in  their  chosen  house  of  refuge, — 
Newport,  the  home  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


Concerning  Roger  Williams.  181 

He  called  the  Quakers  '"Pragmatical  and  Insulting 
Souls,"  "Bundles  of  Ignorance  and  Boisterousness," 
"with  a  face  of  brass  and  a  tongue  set  on  fire  from 
the  Hell  of  Lyes  and  Fury."  A  challenge  to  a  debate 
is  sent  to  George  Fox,  which  in  his  absence,  was  ac- 
cepted by  Newport  Quakers,  and  fourteen  proposi- 
tions of  a  most  deprecatory  and  denunciatory  char- 
acter were  sent  for  debate.  A  day  and  part  of  the 
night,  for  thirty  miles,  Mr.  Williams  records  "God 
graciously  assisted  me  in  rowing  all  day  with  my  old 
bones,  so  that  I  got  to  Newport  toward  midnight  be- 
fore the  morning,"  of  the  three  days'  conflict.  The 
story  of  that  battle  of  words  is  best  untold,  and  no 
apologist  of  Mr.  Williams  has  ever  been  able  to 
square  his  attitude  as  to  "pressing  the  Quakers,"  with 
his  profession  of  conscience  and  civil  liberty.  The 
result  of  the  contest  appeared  in  the  rapid  growth 
of  the  Quaker  body  and  faith  on  Aquidneck  and  their 
wise  and  prudent  government  of  the  Colony  for  more 
than  a  century.  The  incident  establishes  Mr.  W.  B. 
Weeden's  statement  in  a  broad  sense  that  "Williams 
never  could  formulate  his  own  large  conceptions  into 
dogmas,  capable  of  founding  solid  societies." 


182         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

The  Royal  Charter  of  1663,  the  Final  Guaranty 
OF  Civil  and  Religious  Freedom  in  America. 

Great  men  and  their  deeds  and  great  facts  of  his- 
tory are  liable  to  lie  bedded  in  the  soil  of  forgetfulness 
until  some  resurrective  force  raises  men  and  facts  to 
the  light  and  life  of  honest  and  honorable  recognition. 
Such  century  plants  survive  ordinary  human  achieve- 
ment and  in  time  find  their  permanent  place  in  the 
orders  of  social  and  civil  life.  These  principles  apply 
to  the  Roy^4~Chaa:ter  of  1663  and  its  author  and  pro- 
curer, Dr.  John  Clarke  of  Aquidneck. 

The  charter  of  Rhode  Island  of  1663  has  been  uni- 
versally recognized  as  the  most  liberal  state  paper 
ever  issued  by  the  English  Crown.  It  is  remarkable 
in  several  particulars,  one  of  which  is  that  it  is  a  con- 
firmation of  the  Declaration  of  Breda. 

Declaration  of  Breda. 

Liberty  to  Tender  Consciences. 

April  4-14,  1660. 

We  do  declare  a  Liberty  to  tender  consciences :  and 
that  no  Man  shall  be  disquieted,  or  called  in  question, 
for  diflferences  of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion  which 


Royal  Charter  of  1663.  183 

do  not  disturb  the  peace  of  the  kingdom ;  and  that  we 
shall  be  ready  to  consent  to  such  an  act  of  Parliament, 
as,  upon  mature  deliberation,  shall  be  offered  to  us, 
for  the  full  granting  that  indulgence. 

Charles  II,  Rex. 

Still  further  it  gives  Royal  sanction  to  the  founda- 
tion principles  of  the  Aquidneck  towns.  Yet  more,  its 
inner  meanings,  its  scope  and  its  historic  references 
establish  the  authorship  in  Dr.  John  Clarke  of  Rhode 
Island  Colony.  Of  all  the  acts  of  his  distinguished 
career,  the  authorship  and  procuring  the  Royal  Char- 
ter is  the  greatest. 

I  have  it  in  mind  to  show  that  the  principles  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty  as  set  forth  in  the  demo- 
cratic constitution  of  the  several  states  of  our  republic 
and  in  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  were 
clearly  enunciated,  set  forth  and  solemnly  enacted  in  "(^ 
the  Royal  Charter,  given  to  the  colony  of  Rhode 
Island  by  King  Charles,  the  Second,  July  8,  1663.  In 
other  words,  I  propose  to  show  that  the  rights,  privi- 
leges and  prerogatives  of  a  free  commonwealth,  under 
modern  constitutional  enactments,  inhered  in  and 
were  guaranteed  by  that  charter,  and  that  the  Colony 
of  Rhode  Island  was  to  all  intents  and  purposes  de 
jure,  a  free  and  independent  republic,  under  a  strict 
construction  of  constitutional  jurisprudence,  from  the 
8th  of  July,  1663,  until  the  4th  of  May,  1776. 


184  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

A  few  important  facts  of  Rhode  Island  history  will 
preface  my  argument. 

In  the  year  1636,  Roger  Williams,  banished  from 
Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  with  a  few  companions, 
made  a  Plantation  on  the  banks  of  the  Moshassuck, 
calling  it  Providence,  and  his  territorial  purchase  of 
the  Narragansetts,  Providence  Plantations.  In  1638, 
William  Coddington  and  others,  likewise  banished 
from  ]\Iassachusetts  Bay  Colony,  planted  at  Ports- 
mouth, and,  in  1639,  Coddington  with  John  Clarke 
and  others  planted  a  town  on  the  south  end  of  Aquid- 
nick,  calling  it  Newport,  and  the  territorial  posses- 
sions, acquired  of  the  Narragansetts,  Rhode  Island. 
In  1643,  Samuel  Gorton  and  ten  others,  having  en- 
joyed a  double  banishment  from  Plymouth  Colony 
and  Rhode  Island  Colony,  purchased  Shawomet,  or 
Warwick  of  the  Narragansetts,  and  settled  the  fourth 
community,  outside  the  two  settlements  already  made. 
On  the  17th  of  September,  1644,  Mr.  Williams,  re- 
turning from  England,  landed  at  Boston  with  the  first 
charter,  constituting  "The  Incorporation  of  Provi- 
dence Plantations  in  Narragansett  Bay."  This  state 
paper,  conferring  the  right  and  authority  of  civil  gov- 
ernment on  the  United  Colony  of  the  four  towns,  was 
adopted  by  them  in  1647,  when  in  a  General  As- 
sembly, held  at  Newport,  in  May  of  that  year,  a 
colonial  government  was  organized  and  John  Cog- 
geshall  of  Newport  was  chosen  president  of  the 
colony.  The  charter  of  1644,  omitted  all  reference  to 
religious  concerns. 


Royal  Charter  ov  1663.  185 

111  1648  and  1649,  William  Coddington  of  Newport\ 
was  made  president  of  the  four  united  towns  of  the         jp 

colony.     On  the  execution  of  Charles  the  First,  and         '^r:, 

o 
the  accession  of  Cromwell  and  the  Puritan  Common- 
wealth, Coddington  sailed  to  England  secretly,  and  in 
the  midst  of  the  confusion  of  the  new  regime,  obtained 
a  commission  as  Governor  for  life  of  the  islands  of 
Aquidneck  and  Conanicut.    This  strange  act  nullified 
the  charter  and  left  Warwick  and  the  plantations  with 
the  whole  Narragansett  country  at  the  mercy  of  the 
avaricious  colonies  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
Bay.    The  whole  colony  was  aroused  and  John  Clarke, 
representing  the  Rhode  Island  towns,  and  Roger  Wil- 
liams the  towns  of  Warwick  and  Providence  Planta- 
tions were  sent  to  England  in  1651  to  obtain  a  recall 
of  Coddington's  powers,  and  the  restoration  of  the 
charter  of  1643,  and  in  1652  the  successful  mission 
of  Clarke  and  Williams  was  welcomed  by  the  people, 
— a  result  largely  due  to  the  influence  of  Sir  Harry 
Vane  and  John  Milton,  both  ardent  friends  of  the 
Rhode  Island  principle.     In  1654,  Mr.  Williams  re- 
turned to  Providence,  leaving  John  Clarke  in  England 
to  protect  the  interests  of  the  four  towns,  again  united 
in  one  colony. 

The  death  of  Cromwell  and  the  accession  of 
Charles  the  Second  in  1660  witnessed  a  new  crisis  in 
our  colonial  history,  when  not  only  our  charter  rights 
were  desrtoyed,  but  even  our  territorial  holdings  were 
put  in  great  jeopardy.    The  restoration  of  the  Stuarts 


%^ 


/ 


V 


186         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

and  the  annulment  of  the  acts  of  the  long  Parliament 
made  it  necessary  for  Rhode  Island  to  seek  a  new 
charter.  The  hour  for  a  great  diplomat  had  come, 
and  Dr.  John  Clarke,  the  greatest  American  diplomat 
of  his  age,  was  at  the  post  of  duty,  as  well  as  danger, 
in  the  great  emergency,  and  after  long  and  wearisome 
debate,  fierce  and  determined  opposition  from  the 
London  agents  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts  Bay 
Colonies,  and  malignant  personal  abuse  from  unex- 
pected quarters,  he  secured  the  signature  and  seal  of 
Charles  the  Second  on  the  8th  day  of  July,  1663,  creat- 
ing in  perpetuity  the  English  colony  of  Rhode  Island 
and  Providence  plantations  in  the  Narragansett  Bay, 
New  England  in  America. 

And  what  was  its  content  of  constitutional  free- 
dom? 

First  was  the  recognition  of  the  absolute  right  of 
the  Indian  tribes  to  the  soil  and  the  guarantee  of  the 
Indian  titles  to  estates  in  fee  simple  to  the  original 
planters  of  the  colony.  This  was  a  remarkable  con- 
cession, in  that  it  annulled  all  prior  claims  to  Indian 
lands  by  right  of  discovery  or  conquest  as  vested  in 
the  crown,  and  established  the  contracts  as  made  be- 
tween the  settlers  and  the  Narragansetts,  as  valid  and 
binding  on  all  concerned.  The  words  of  the  charter 
are,  "and  are  seized  and  possessed,  by  purchase  and 
consent  of  the  said  natives,  to  their  full  content,  of 
such  lands,  islands,  rivers,  harbors,  and  roads,  as  are 


Royal  Charter  of  1663.  187 

very  convenient,  etc."  By  these  words  all  Indian  land 
titles  were  confirmed  and  established  by  royal  consent 
and  authority  throughout  Rhode  Island.  In  other 
colonies  the  lands  were  bestowed  by  the  crown  and 
confirmed  by  the  natives,  but  here  Indian  sales  were 
confirmed  by  the  King  and  as  a  further  grant,  the 
settlers  were  permitted  "to  direct,  rule,  order  and  dis- 
pose of  all  other  matters  and  things,  and  particularly 
that  which  relates  to  the  making  of  purchases  of  the 
native  Indians."  These  concessions  were  in  answer 
to  the  claims  of  Clarke  and  Williams,  so  long  main- 
tained, that  the  Indians  were  the  rightful  owners  of 
the  soil  they  occupied. 

Next  to  the  perfect  guarantee  of  Indian  titles,  was 
the  perfect  and  complete  guaranteed  political  life  in 
^■^a  body  politic  styled  "THE  GOVERNOR  AND 
COMPANY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  COLONY  OF 
RHODE  ISLAND  AND  PROVIDENCE  PLAN- 
TATIONS, ETC."  "that  by  the  same  name,  they  and 
their  successors  shall  and  may  have  perpetual  succes- 
sion, and  shall  and  may  be  persons  able  and  capable, 
in  the  law  to  sue  and  be  sued,  to  plead  and  be  im- 
pleaded, to  answer  and  be  answered  unto,  to  defend 
and  be  defended,  etc.  *  *  *  as  others  our  liege  people 
of  this  our  realm  of  England,  or  any  corporation  or 
body  politic  within  the  same  may  lawfully  do." 

This    body    so    ordained    contained    all    the    ma- 
chinery of  government,  perfect,  absolute,  complete  in 


188         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

and  of  itself,  responsible  for  its  acts  and  so  consti- 
tuted as  to  fulfill  all  the  functions  of  self-protection 
and  defense. 

Still  further,  to  set  this  complicated  machinery  of 
state  in  order  and  motion,  "We  will  and  ordain,  and 
by  these  presents,  for  us,  our  heirs,  and  successors, 
do  declare  and  appoint  that  for  the  better  ordering 
and  managing  of  the  affairs  and  business  of  the  said 
company,  and  their  successors,  there  shall  be  one  Gov- 
ernor, one  deputy  Governor  and  10  assistants,  to  be 
from  time  to  time,  constituted,  elected  and  chosen,  out 
of  the  freemen  of  the  said  company,  for  the  time  be- 
ing, in  such  manner  and  form  as  is  hereafter  in  these 
presents  expressed,  which  said  officers  shall  apply 
themselves  to  take  care  for  the  best  disposing  and 
ordering  of  the  general  business  and  affairs  of  and 
concerning  the  lands,  and  hereditaments  hereinafter 
mentioned  to  be  granted,  and  the  plantation  thereof, 
and  the  government  of  the  people  there.  And,  for 
the  better  execution  of  our  royal  pleasure  herein,  we 
do,  for  us,  our  heirs  and  successors,  assign,  name, 
constitute,  and  appoint  the  aforesaid  Benedict  Arnold 
to  be  the  first  and  present  Governor  "of  the  said  com- 
pany, and  the  said  William  Brenton  to  be  deputy  gov- 
ernor," with  ten  assistants  therein  named,  to  continue 
in  office  until  the  first  Wednesday  in  May,  next  com- 
ing. And  "forever  thereafter"  the  major  part  of  the 
freemen    shall    elect    assistants   and   deputies    semi- 


Royal  Charter  of  1663.  189 

annually,  to  a  meeting  or  assembly  to  be  called  The 
General  Assembly,  "to  consult,  advise  and  determine, 
in  and  about  the  aflairs  and  business  of  the  said  com- 
pany and  plantations." 

Here  was  American  democracy  pure  and  simple. 

First,  the  freemen  whose  qualifications  were  deter- 
minable by  the  body  politic,  the  corporation  of  Rliode 
Island.  Suffrage,  by  this  instrument,  was  limited 
only,  as  to-day,  by  the  will  of  the  people.  No  word 
as  to  manhood  or  womanhood  suffrage,  no  property 
qualification,  no  reference  to  native  or  foreign  born — 
simply  the  freemen. 

Further,  "the  major  part  of  the  freemen  of  the 
respective  towns,"  elected  their  representatives.  Here 
we  have  the  great  law  of  majority  rule  in  elections, 
which  has  held  sway  in  town  and  state  legislative  pro- 
cedure for  three  centuries.  The  Rhode  Island  town 
is  here  recognized  as  the  unit  of  political  institutions 
and  the  purest  illustration  of  popular  government  of, 
for  and  by  the  people. 

The  General  Assembly  as  above  constituted  and 
elected  by  the  freemen,  in  town  meeting  assembled, 
was  granted  full  power  and  authority  "from  time  to 
time  and  at  all  times  hereafter  to  appoint,  alter  and 
change  such  days,  times  and  places  of  meeting  and 
General  Assembly  as  they  shall  think  fit;  and  to 
choose,  nominate  and  appoint  such  and  so  many  other 
persons  as  they  shall  think  fit,  and  shall  be  willing  to 


190         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

accept  the  same,  to  be  free  of  the  said  company  and 
body  politic,  and  them  into  the  same  to  admit ;  and  to 
elect  and  constitute  such  offices  and  officers  and  to 
grant  such  needful  commissions,  as  they  shall  think 
fit  and  requisite,  for  the  ordering,  managing  and  dis- 
patching of  the  affairs  of  the  said  Governor  and  com- 
pany, and  their  successors;  and  from  time  to  time  to 
make,  ordain,  constitute  or  repeal  such  laws,  statutes, 
orders  and  ordinances,  forms  and  ceremonies  of  gov- 
ernment and  magistracy  as  to  them  shall  seem  meet 
for  the  good  and  welfare  of  the  said  company,  and 
for  the  government  and  ordering  of  the  lands  and 
hereditaments,  hereinafter  mentioned  to  be  granted, 
and  of  the  people  that  do,  or  at  any  time  hereafter 
shall  inhabit  or  be  within  the  same;  so  as  such  laws, 
ordinances  and  constitutions,  so  made,  be  not  con- 
trary and  repugnant  unto,  but  as  near  as  may  be, 
agreeable  to  the  laws  of  this  our  realm  of  England, 
considering  the  nature  and  constitution  of  the  place 
and  people  there,  and  also  to  regulate  and  order  the 
way  and  manner  of  all  elections  to  offices  and  places 
of  trust,  and  to  prescribe,  limit  and  distinguish  the 
numbers  and  bounds  of  all  places,  towns  or  cities 
within  the  limits  and  bounds  hereinafter  mentioned, 
and  not  herein  particularly  named,  who  have,  or  shall 
have,  the  power  of  electing  and  sending  of  freemen 
to  the  said  General  Assembly;  and  also  to  order,  di- 
rect and  authorize  the  imposing  of  lawful  and  reason- 
able fines,  mulcts,  imprisonments  and  executing  other 


Royal  Charter  of  1663.  191 

punishments,  pecuniary  and  corporal,  upon  offenders 
and  delinquents,  etc.,  according  to  the  course  of  other 
corporations  in  the  English  realm." 

The  General  Assembly  was  "to  appoint,  order  and 
direct,  erect  and  settle  such  places  and  courts  of  juris- 
diction, for  the  hearing  and  determining  of  all  actions, 
cases,  matters  and  things,  happening  within  the  said 
colony  and  plantation,  and  which  shall  be  in  dispute, 
and  depending  there,  as  they  shall  think  fit  and  also  to 
distinguish  and  set  for  the  several  names  and  titles, 
duties,  powers  and  limits,  of  each  court,  office  and 
officer,  superior  and  inferior ;  and  also  to  contrive  and 
appoint  such  forms  of  oaths  and  attestations,  not  re- 
pugnant, but  as  near  as  may  be  agreeable,  as  afore- 
said, to  the  laws  and  statutes  of  this  our  realm,  as  are 
convenient  and  requisite  with  respect  to  the  due  ad- 
ministration of  justice,  and  due  execution  and  dis- 
charge of  all  offices  and  places  of  trust  by  the  persons 
that  shall  be  therein  concerned." 

Religious  liberty  was  confirmed  and  forever  es- 
tablished in  the  remarkable  utterances,  the  leading 
declaration  of  which  appears  in  a  prior  letter  from 
Dr.  John  Clarke  to  Charles  II.,  under  date  of  1662. 
This  letter  sets  at  rest  forever  the  authorship  of  the 
sentiment  cut  in  marble  in  the  facade  of  the  State 
House,  and  so  often  credited  to  Roger  Williams.  It 
is  a  monument  to  the  greatness  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 


192         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

"And  whereas,  in  their  humble  address,  they  have 
freely  declared,  that  it  is  much  on  their  hearts  (if 
they  may  be  permitted)  to  hold  forth  a  lively  experi- 
ment, that  a  most  flourishing  civil  state  may  stand 
and  best  be  maintained,  and  that  among  our  English 
subjects,  with  a  full  liberty  in  religious  concernments; 
and  that  true  piety  rightly  grounded  upon  gospel  prin- 
ciples, will  giA^e  the  best  and  greatest  security  to  sov- 
ereignty, and  will  lay  in  the  hearts  of  men  the 
strongest  obligations  to  true  loyalty:  Now,  know  ye, 
that  we,  being  willing  to  encourage  the  hopeful  un- 
dertaking of  our  said  loyal  and  loving  subjects,  and 
to  secure  them  in  the  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of 
all  their  civil  and  religious  rights,  appertaining  to 
them,  as  our  loving  subjects;  and  to  preserve  unto 
them  that  liberty,  in  the  true  Christian  faith  and  wor- 
ship of  God,  which  they  have  sought  with  so  much 
travail,  and  with  peaceable  minds,  and  loyal  subjec- 
tion to  our  royal  progenitors  and  ourselves  to  enjoy; 
and  because  some  of  the  people  and  inhabitants  of  the 
same  colony  cannot,  in  their  private  opinions,  conform 
to  the  public  exercise  of  religion,  according  to  the 
liturgy,  forms  and  ceremonies  of  the  Church  of 
England,  or  take  or  subscribe  the  oaths  and  articles 
made  and  established  in  that  behalf ;  and  for  that  the 
same,  by  reason  of  the  remote  distances  of  those 
places,  will  (as  we  hope)  be  no  breach  of  the  unity 
and  uniformity  established  in  this  nation :  Have  there- 
fore thought  fit,  and  do  hereby  publish,  grant,  ordain 


Royal  Charter  of  1663.  193 

and  declare,  That  our  royal  will  and  pleasure  is,  that 
^       no  person  within  the  said  colony,  at  any  time  here- 
after shall  be  anywise  molested,  punished,  disquieted, 
or  called  in  question,  for  any  differences  in  opinion 
in  matters  of  religion,  and  do  not  actually  disturb  the 
civil  peace  of  our  said  colony ;  but  that  all  and  every 
person  and  persons  may,  from  time  to  time,  and  at 
all  times  hereafter,  freely  and  fully  have  and  enjoy 
his  and  their  own  judgments  and  consciences,  in  mat- 
ters of  religious  concernments,  throughout  the  tract 
of  land  hereafter  mentioned,   they  behaving  them- 
selves peaceably  and  quietly,  and  not  using  this  liberty 
to  licentiousness  and  prof  aneness,  nor  to  the  civil  in- 
jury  or   outward   disturbance   of   others,    any   law, 
statute,  or  clause  therein  contained,  or  to  be  contained, 
usage  or  custom  of  this  realm,  to  the  contrary  hereof, 
in  any  wise  notwithstanding." 

In  this  declaration  as  to  rights  of  conscience  in  re- 
V  ligious  concerns,  Dr.  Clarke  quotes  from  the  famous 
letter  of  Charles  the  Second  to  the  Commons,  known 
as  the  Declaration  of  Breda,  April  4-14,  1660,  in 
which  he  affirms  "that  no  man  shall  be  disquieted  or 
called  in  question  for  differences  of  opinion  in  mat- 
ters of  religion  which  do  not  disturb  the  peace  of  the 
kingdom." 

Other  valuable  privileges  and  concessions  were 
granted,  but  enough  have  been  presented  to  show 
that  the  Rhode  Island  government  was  clothed  with 


194         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

all  the  powers  and  perogatives  of  a  free,  democratic 
republic.  Territorial  rights,  citizenship,  freemanship, 
the  franchise,  administrative  assemblies,  a  represen- 
tative government,  an  unrestricted  law-making  power, 
an  independent  judiciary,  freedom  of  speech,  of 
political  action,  of  conscience,  or  religious  faith,  were 
granted  to  Rhode  Island  by  the  sovereign  grace  of 
Charles  the  Second,  the  founder  and  friend  of  a  free 
colony,  under  the  broad  imperial  aegis  of  Great 
Britain. 

On  so  broad  a  platform  of  constitutional  rights,  the 
colony  of  Rhode  Island  stood,  the  freest  common- 
wealth in  principle  and  practise  on  the  face  of  the 
earth.  So  broad,  so  practical,  so  efficient  were  the 
provisions  of  this  great  charter  of  human  rights  and 
of  constitutional  government  that  it  stood  all  the 
needs  of  a  Colonial  life,  a  period  of  113  years,  and 
then  served  the  needs  of  a  State  Constitution  within 
the  Federal  Republic  for  67  years — a  total  of  180 
years, — the  oldest  of  all. 

Our  state  historian  Arnold  says  of  it:  "Under  it 
the  state  was  an  absolute  sovereignty  with  powers  to 
'•make  its  own  laws,  religious  freedom  was  guaranteed, 
and  no  oath  of  allegiance  was  required.  Rhode  Island 
became  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name,  an  independent 
state  from  that  day." 

"The  extent  of  the  power  conferred  by  this  charter 
is  indeed  surprising.     The  military  arm,  always  re- 


\ 


Royal  Charter  of  1663.  195 

lied  upon  as  the  distinctive  barrier  of  the  throne,  is 
formally  and  fully  surrendered  to  the  people,  in  this 
instrument,  even  to  the  extreme  point  of  declaring 
martial  law — a  grant,  which  in  repeated  cases,  the 
government  of  Rhode  Island  successfully  defended  in 
later  years  against  the  threats  and  the  arguments  of 
the  royal  governors  of  New  England." 

"With  this  charter,  serving  as  the  basis  of  govern- 
ment, rather  than  prescribing  its  form,  the  state  led 
the  way  in  the  final  struggle  for  national  indepen- 
dence." 

Henry  Cabot  Lodge  in  his  History  of  English 
Colonies  in  America,  who  wittingly  holds  the  ancient 
Massachusetts  animus  as  to  our  colonial  government 
says:  "Clarke  was  an  adroit  and  an  able  man;  *  *  * 
Clarke's  charter  soon  after  passed  the  seals  and  the 
Governor  and  Company  of  Rhode  Island  were  fairly 
incorporated.  This  charter  was  drawn  in  the  most 
liberal  terms  possible — establishing  a  purely  popular 
elective  government — while  it  bore  the  marks  of  its 
author  in  its  provision  that  no  one  should  be  molested 
for  any  religious  opinion,  if  the  peace  was  kept." 

To  Bancroft,  our  greatest  American  historian,  be- 
longs the  honor  of  bestowing  upon  the  Rhode  Island 
charter  of  1663,  the  first  position  as  a  state  paper 
among  the  records  of  civilized  men,  and  of  according 
to  Dr.  John  Clarke,  the  agent  of  the  Colony  of  Rhode 
Island  and  the  author  of  the  immortal  document,  en- 
during words  of  praise. 


196         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Ci^arke. 

After  referring  to  the  remarkably  liberal  charter  of 
the  Colony  of  Connecticut  of  1662,  he  writes:  "Rhode 
Island  was  fostered  by  Charles  II  with  still  greater 
liberality.  When  Roger  Williams  had  succeeded  in 
obtaining  from  the  Long  Parliament  the  confirmed 
union  of  the  territories  that  now  constitute  the  state, 
he  returned  to  America  (1654)  leaving  John  Clarke 
as  the  agent  of  the  colony  in  England.  Never  did  a 
young  commonwealth  possess  a  more  faithful  friend ; 
and  never  did  a  young  people  cherish  a  fonder  desire 
for  the  enfranchisement  of  mind. 

"  'Plead  our  case,  they  had  said  to  him  in  previous 
instructions  which  Gorton  and  others  had  drafted,  in 
such  sort  as  we  may  not  be  compelled  to  exercise  any 
civil  power  over  men's  conscience;  we  do  judge  it  no 
less  than  a  point  of  absolute  cruelty.'  *  *  *  The 
good-natured  monarch  listened  to  their  petition; 
Clarendon  exerted  himself  in  their  behalf;  the  mak- 
ing trial  of  religious  freedom  in  a  nook  of  a  remote 
continent  could  not  appear  dangerous ;  it  might  at  once 
build  up  another  rival  to  Massachusetts  and  solve  a 
problem  in  the  history  of  man."  *  *  * 

"This  charter  of  government,  establishing  a  politi- 
cal system  which  few  besides  the  Rhode  Islanders 
themselves  then  believed  to  be  practicable,  remained 
in  existence  till  it  became  the  oldest  constitutional 
charter  in  the  world."  =•=  *  *  "Nowhere  in  the  world 
were  life,  liberty  and  property  safer  than  in  Rhode  \ 
Island." 


RoYAi.  Charter  of  1663.  197 

He  calls  Dr.  John  Clarke,  "the  modest  and  virtuous 
Clarke,  the  persevering  and  disinterested  envoy,"  who 
"parted  with  his  little  means  for  the  public  good"; 
and  "left  a  name  on  which  no  one  can  cast  a  shade." 
/  And  so  it  came  to  pass  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II, 
'King  of  England,  to  wit,  in  1663,  through  the  inter- 
cession of  Dr.  John  Clarke,  Envoy  Extraordinary 
from  the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence 
Plantations,  for  12  years,  to  wit,  from  1651 ; 

That  the  boundaries  of  the  colony  were  clearly  de- 
fined; 

That  the  Indian  deeds  of  lands  were  confirmed; 

That  the  estate  of  freemen  was  created ; 

That  civil  government  was  vested  in  this  demo- 
cratic estate; 

That  a  de  facto  government  was  established  and 
set  up; 

That  the  law-making  power  was  vested  in  an  elec- 
tive body,  styled  the  General  Assembly ; 

That  a  judiciary  was  created  for  the  determination 
of  justice ; 

That  a  military  force  was  ordained  for  defense; 

That  martial  law  was  vested  in  the  executive ; 

That  freedom  of  worship  and  of  conscience  was 
made  the  basis  of  individual  rights ; 

And,  all  under  the  laws,  ordinances  and  constitu- 
tions, "agreeable  to  the  laws  of  this  our  realm  of 


198         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

England,  considering  the  nature  and  constitution  of 
the  people  there."  And  these  things  and  more  were 
embodied  in  that  great  instrument,  the  Royal  Charter ; 
were  the  inherent  elements  of  our  Declaration  of  In- 
dependence, and  have  been  the  foundations  of  the 
civil  state  we  love  and  honor.     / 

Had  Dr.  John  Clarke  of  Newport  no  other  claim 
to  the  first  place  among  the  founders  of  American 
Colonies,  the  Royal  Charter  of  1663  would  confer 
that  honor. 


GRAVE  OF  DR    JOHN  CLARKE 
NEWPORT.  R.   I. 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  199 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Concerning  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Roger  Williams'  Opinion  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

"His  grand  motive, — A  just  liberty  to  all  men's 
spirits  in  spiritual  maters." 

"For  his  honoured  and  beloved  Mr.  John  Clarke, 
an  eminent  w^itness  of  Christ  Jesus  agst  ye  bloodie 
Doctrine  of  Persecution,  &c." 

Reasons  for  Planting  Aquidneck. 

"We  must  remark  that  this  Colony  (Rhode  Island) 
was  a  settlement  and  plantation  for  religion  and  con- 
science sake.  *  *  *  The  first  planters  of  this  Colony, 
and  Island,  fled  not  from  religion,  order  or  good  gov- 
ernment, but  to  have  liberty  to  worship  God  and  enjoy 
their  own  opinions  and  beliefs.  *  *  *  We  find  that  re- 
ligion and  conscience  began  the  Colony.  *  *  *  The 
posterity  of  a  people,  who  were  guided  to  this  happy 
Island,  as  a  safe  retreat  from  the  stormy  winds,  as 
a  place  of  freedom  to  practice  every  branch  of  re- 
lisfion  in.  *  *  *  Our  fathers  established  a  mutual 
liberty  of  conscience.  *  *  *  Liberty  of  conscience  was 
never  more  fully  enjoyed  than  here.  *  *  *  His  memory 


200         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

(Dr.  John  Clarke's)  is  deserving  of  lasting  honor  for 
his  efforts  towards  establishing  the  first  government 
in  the  world,  which  gave  to  all  equal  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  *  *  *  He  was  the  original  proprietor  of  the 
settlement  on  the  Island  and  one  of  its  ablest  legis- 
lators. No  character  in  New  England  is  of  purer 
fame  than  John  Clarke." 

Rev.  John  Callender,  A.  M. 

Century  Sermon,  1739. 


An  Estimate  oe  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Samuel  G.  Arnold,  Historian  of  Rhode  Island,  says: 

"John  Clarke  and  his  brave  companions  peaceably 
purchased  'the  Eden  of  America'  from  its  aboriginal 
lords,  and  founded  a  Christian  Colony  in  the  midst 
of  heathen  barbarism." 

"The  two  men  who  had  been  so  long  rivals  in  their 
public  life,  as  agents  of  their  respective  colonies,  but 
who  had  always  maintained  a  mutual  friendship, 
passed  from  the  world  almost  together.  Dr.  John 
Clarke  expired  two  weeks  after  Governor  Winthrop, 
in  the  sixty-seventh  year  of  his  age.  To  him  Rhode 
Island  was  chiefly  indebted  for  the  extension  of  her 
territory  on  both  sides  of  the  Bay,  as  well  as  for  the 
royal  charter.  He  was  a  ripe  scholar,  learned  in  two 
professions,  besides  having  had  large  experience  in 
diplomatic  and  political  life.     He  was  always  in  public 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  201 

life  under  the  old  Patent,  as  Commissioner  and  as 
General  Treasurer,  from  the  first  election  of  Commis- 
sioners held  under  it,  until  sent  to  England,  where 
he  was  employed  as  Agent  of  the  Colony  for  twelve 
years.  On  his  return,  he  served  as  a  Deputy  in  the 
Assembly  from  the  first  election  under  the  Charter 
till  he  was  made  Deputy  Governor,  to  which  position 
he  was  three  times  elected,  and  served  twice,  closing 
his  public  life  with  that  ofiice,  five  years  before  his 
death.  With  all  these  public  pursuits,  he  continued 
the  practice  of  his  original  profession  as  a  physician, 
and  also  retained  the  pastoral  charge  of  his  church, 
as  its  records  show.  His  life  was  devoted  to  the  good 
of  others.  He  was  a  patriot,  a  scholar,  and  a  Chris- 
tian. The  purity  of  his  character  is  conspicuous  in 
many  trying  scenes,  and  his  blameless,  self-sacrificing 
life  disarmed  detraction  and  left  him  without  an 
enemy.  The  Colony  was  largely  indebted  to  him  for 
advances  made  in  securing  the  Charter." 

The  Order  as  to  "Doctrine." 

"The  people  (of  Aquidneck)  having  recently  trans- 
ferred the  judicial  power  from  their  own  control  to 
the  Court  and  Juries,  they  enacted  this  law  protecting 
liberty  of  conscience,  not  choosing  to  trust  the  judici- 
ary with  the  keeping  of  that  sacred  principle  for 
which  they  had  transported  themselves,  first  from 
England  and  then  from  Massachusetts.  It  was  the 
foundation  of  the  future  statutes  and  Bill  of  Rights, 


202  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

which  distinguished  the  early  laws  and  character  of 
the  state  and  people  of  Rhode  Island  from  the  other 
English  Colonies  in  America." 

"Bulls  Memoirs  of  Rhode  Island." 


Dr.  John  Clarke,  Founder  and  Legislator. 

"Dr.  John  Clarke  was  the  original  projector  of 
the  settlement  on  Rhode  Island,  in  1638,  and  was  sub- 
sequently one  of  its  ablest  legislators." 

"He  was  the  first  regularly  educated  physician  in 

Rhode  Island  and  was  an  able,  pious  and  distinguished 

man." 

Prof.  William  Goddard, 

Brown  Univ. 


He  was  buried  on  his  own  land  on  Tanner  street, 
Newport,  between  his  two  wives,  Elizabeth  and  Jane. 

Here  Lyeth  ye 

Body  of  John  Clarke 

Gent.  Phisitian 

Aged  66  years 

Died  1676  and  is  buried 

Between  his  tzvo  zuives 

Elisabeth  and  Jane. 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  203 

Religious  Freedom  at  Newport. 
Notwithstanding   so   many    dififerences,    here    are 
fewer  quarrels  about  religion  than  elsewhere.     The 
people  living  peaceably  with  their  neighbors  of  what- 
soever persuasion. 

Bishop  Berkley,  Newport, 
Apr.  24,  1729. 


Life,  Liberty  and  Property  in  Rhode  Island. 

"Nowhere  in  the  world  have  life,  liberty  and  prop- 
erty been  safer  than  in  Rhode  Island." — George  Ban- 
croft, Historian. 


The  Old  Charter,  1663. 
"How  dignified  and  perspicuous  is  its  language! 
What  a  choice  specimen  of  English  undefiled !  How 
luminous  is  the  arrangement  of  its  provisions,  how 
comprehensive  and  unambiguous  the  terms  in  which  it 
secures  to  the  people  not  only  perfect  liberty  of  con- 
science in  matters  of  religion,  but  likewise  the  almost 
unrestricted  power  to  govern  themselves  "in  civil 
things!  The  chief  glory  of  the  old  charter  is  the 
ample  security  which  it  provides  for  religious  liberty." 

"So  democratic  was  the  charter  deemed  to  be,  both 
in  its  letter  and  spirit,  that  doubts  were  entertained  in 
England  whether  the  King  had  a  right  to  grant  it." 

William  Goddard, 
Professor  Brown  Univ. 


204  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

The  Code  of  1647. 

"The  Code  of  1647  was  the  work  of  the  people  of 
Aqiiidneck.  It  embodied  their  organizing  and  sys- 
tematizing spirit  and  thus  wrought  for  collectivism. 
But  in  its  framing  there  were  not  overlooked  the 
claims  of  particularism." 

"Otherwise  than  what  is  *  *  *  *  herein  forbidden, 
all  men  may  walk  as  their  consciences  persuade  them, 
every  one  in  the  name  of  his  God." 

Richman. 


Aquidneck. 

"The  Island  was  refined,  flourishing,  aristocratic, 

while  the  mainland  was  primitive,  poor  and  plebian." 

"In  Rhode  Island  there  of  course  was  no  religious 

intolerance." 

Richman. 


Freedom  of  Church  and  State. 

"For  the  first  time  in  human  history.  State  had  been 
wholly  dissociated  from  church  in  a  Commonwealth 
not  Utopian  but  real.  For  the  first  time  the  funda- 
mental idea  of  modern  civilization — that  of  rights  of 
man  as  a  being  responsible  primarily  to  God  and  not 
to  the  community — had  been  given  an  impulse  power- 
ful and  direct." 

Richman. 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  205 

Free  Religious  Institutions. 

"Dr.  Clarke's  name  must  be  dear  to  every  citizen 
of  Rhode  Island,  who  venerates  our  ancient  free  re- 
lisfious  institutions." 


'to' 


The  Newport  Republican. 


"Dr.  Clarke  practiced  as  a  physician  in  London 
from  1652-1663." 

Dr.  Usher  Parsons. 


A  Spotless  Character. 

"It  may  be  proper  to  take  some  particular  notice  of 
Mr.  Clarke,  who  left  as  spotless  a  character  as  any 
man  I  knew  of,  that  ever  acted  in  any  public  station  in 
this  country.  The  Massachusetts  writers  have  been 
so  watchful  and  careful  to  publish  whatever  they 
could  find  which  might  seem  to  countenance  their 
severities,  they  used  towards  dissenters  from  their 
way  that  I  expected  to  find  some  thing  of  that  nature 
against  Mr.  Clarke,  but  have  happily  been  disap- 
pointed." 

"Dr.  John  Clarke  was  a  principal  instrument  in 
procuring  Rhode  Island  for  a  people,  persecuted  else- 
where." 

Rev.  Isaac  Backus,  Historian,  1777. 


206         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

To 

JOHN  CLARKE,  PHYSICIAN 

1609-1676 

Founder  of  Newport 

And  of  the  Civil  Polity  of  Rhode  Island. 


Marble  tablet  in  Hall  of  Newport  Historical  Society, 

Erected  by  the  Newport  Medical  Society, 

Dec,  1885. 


scholar,  physician,  minister  and  statesman. 

"In  1676,  died  John  Clarke,  scholar,  physician,  min- 
ister and  statesman ;  above  all,  a  pure  patriot.  Al- 
ways in  public  affairs,  his  'blameless,  self-sacrificing 
life'  left  him  without  an  enemy,  although  in  these 
times  strife  everywhere  prevailed." 

"John  Clarke,  more  practical  than  Roger  Williams, 
seized  every  opportunity  to  ally  himself  with  the  most 
liberal  religious  thought  of  Continental  Europe,  as 
well  as  of  England." 

"John  Clarke  laid  his  topographical  lines  as  skill- 
fully as  he  negotiated  politically." 

"They  (the  Quakers)  flocked  into  Newport.  Here 
they  found  a  free  atmosphere  and  many  people  with 
minds  open  for  the  reception  of  their  ideas." 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  207 

"Dr.  John  Clarke's  expenses  in  England,  while  pro- 
curing the  royal  charter,  the  secured  foundation  of 
the  Colony,  had  been  slowly  paid  and  never  were  fully 
liquidated.  Yet  no  one  deserved  more  from  the 
planters  than  this  enterprising,  wise  and  forecasting 
statesman.  Roger  Williams  berated  Providence  that 
they  "ride  securely  by  a  new  Cable  and  Ankor  of  Mr. 
Clarke's  procuring." 

"Sagacious  as  Charles  the  Second  was,  he  built 
better  than  he  knew,  when  he  allowed  absolute  free- 
dom of  conscience  in  the  little  dependency  of  Rhode 
Island." 

William  B.  Weeden, 

In  "Early  Rhode  Island." 


"Dr.  John  Clarke  came  to  Boston,  Nov.,  1637.  He 
became  a  follower  of  ]\Irs.  Anne  Hutchinson  and  is 
venerated  as  the  founder  of  Newport." 

James  Savage,  Gen.  Dictionary. 


Dr.  John  Clarke  and  the  Royal  Charter. 

"Who  can  describe  the  feeings  of  Clarke  when  he 
received  from  the  hands  of  Chales  II.  that  charter, 
which  it  was  the  great  aim  of  his  life  to  obtain.  The 
Colony  was  now  safe ;  and  there  was  at  least  one  spot 
on  the  face  of  the  globe  where  every  man  could  sit 
under  his  own  vine  and  fig  tree,  with  none  to  make 


208  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

his  afraid."*  *  *  *  "The  joy  in  the  Colony  was  equally 
great."  *  *  *  "If  ever  a  people  were  sincere  in  ex- 
pressing their  gratitude,  it  was  when  they  voted 
thanks  to  their  Sovereign  Lord,  King  Charles  the 
Second;  to  the  most  honorable  Earl  of  Clarendon; 
and  to  their  faithful  agent.  John  Clarke."*  *  *  "It 
(the  Royal  Charter  of  1663),  constituted  Rhode 
Island  the  Morning  Star  of  Liberty  to  the  world,  and 
gave  her  a  name  and  an  influence  that  will  never  die. 
It  was  the  wonder  of  the  age  when  it  was  given,  as  it 
has  been  the  admiration  of  each  succeeding  age."  *  * 
"The  Colony  then  asstmied  its  permanent  form,  and 
was  embodied  in  institutions  that  continue  to  this  day, 
its  central  principle  being  Freedom.  Especially  Re- 
ligions Freedom,  Secured  by  Fundamental  Laiv." 

Rev.  S.  Adlam, 
Pastor  Dr.  John  Clarke  Memorial  Church, 

Newport,  1871. 


Dr.  John  Clarke. 
"I  firmly  believe  that  there  was  not  then  a  better 
balanced  mind  than  Dr.  John  Clarke's  in  all  America 
and  Rhode  Island  never  had  a  more  devoted  friend. 
He  was  prodigal  of  himself  in  her  service,  and  when 
he  died  he  gave  the  remnant  of  his  fortune  for  the 
relief  of  her  poor  and  the  bringing  up  of  her  children 
to  learning." 

Hon.  William  P.  Sheffield, 

Newport  Oration,  1876. 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  209 

Clarke  Family. 

Dr.  John  Clarke  of  Newport  was  in  the  fourth 
generation  from  John  Clarke  (^^  of  Westhorpe,  Suf- 
folk, England  who  was  buried  March  3,  1559; 
through  John  (2),  b.  1541 ;  died  April  4,  1598:  through 
Thomas  (3),  b.  Nov.  1,  1570;  d.  July  29,  1624.  His 
mother  was  Rose  Kerridge,  who  died  Sept.  19,  1667. 

Cpiildren  Born  at  WesthorpE. 

1.  Margaret,  b.  Feb.  1,  1600. 

2.  Carew,  b.  Feb.  3,  1603;  came  to  Newport,  R.  I. 

3.  Thomas,  b.  March  31,  1605;  came  to  Newport, 

R.  I. 

4.  Mary,  b.  July  17,  1607;  m.  John  Peckham  of 

Newport. 

5.  John,  b.  Oct.  3,  1609;  Founder  of  Aquidneck. 
'6.     William,  b.  Feb.  11,  1611. 

7.     Joseph,  b.   Dec.   19,   1618;  came  to  Newport, 
R.  I. 


John  Clarke  Monument. 

"Rhode  Island  owes  to  John  Clarke  a  monument 
of  granite  and  a  statue  of  bronze." 

John  R.  Bartlett, 
Secretary  of  State  for  Rhode 
Island,  1855-1872. 


210         The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Roger  Williams  and  Dr.  John  Clarke. 
Letter  of  Moses  Brown  to  Prof.  J.  D.  Knowles. 

Providence,  17  of  6  mo.,  1830. 

Respected  Friend: — 

Thy  letter  of  the  15th  is  before  me.  I  have  long  v^rished 
that  a  correct  account  of  Roger  Williams  could  be  made  as 
our  town  and  state  is  therein  interested,  but  I  apprehend  thou 
wilt  find  it  difficult  to  eflfect  it  with  that  candor  and  intelH- 
gence  thou  had  when  I  first  was  acquainted  by  information 
thereof  in  thy  youthful  days,  by  reason  that  R.  W.'s  char- 
acter has  been  written  by  his  friends,  who  claim  him  of  their 
party  in  religious  matters.  I  mean  not  only  Baptists  but  Pres- 
byterians and  others  biassed  by  other  means.  Should  thou 
correct  the  errors  evidently  made  by  Elder  Backus  (from 
others  and  himself)  and  from  him  repeated  in  English  writers 
thou  may  not  satisfy  thy  friends,  and  thou  must  calculate  to 
find  many  things  which  thou  (probably)  never  heard  of  him 
that  thou  can  but  consider  against  his  character  as  well  as 
things  favorable.  Baptist  writers  in  some  respects  disagree. 
Doct.  Edwards  on  inquiry  among  our  old  people  concluded 
and  has  left  it  in  his  history,  now  in  our  Historical  Society's 
library,  that  R.  W.  was  never  considered  (first)  an  Elder,  but 
that  Chad  Brown  was  the  first  Elder  in  the  Baptist  Church 
in  this  town,  but  Elder  Backus  has  taken  much  pains  to 
establish  R.  W.  the  first  and  in  every  other  way  to  raise  the 
character  of  him  beyond  what  well  authenticated  facts  on 
Records  disprove,  and  in  his  endeavor  to  exalt  Roger's  chris- 
tian character,  has  endeavored  to  lay  waste  that  of  ancient 
Friends,  for  which  he  was  called  to  account  before  some  of 
his  friends. 

R.  W.'s  first  writing  was  very  different  from  his  latter,  both 
as  to  matter  and  manner  and  he  is  accused  by  his  opponent, 
John  Cotton,  then  as  not  adhering  to  the  truth.  It  will  appear 
by  Roger's  own  account  that  he  was  turned  out  of  office  by 
the  King's  party  and  by  Baxter  and  Crosby's  History  of  the 
Baptists  and  indeed  by  Backus  that  he  was  the  Father  of  the 


THOMAS  WILLIAMS  BICKNELL 


Dr.  John  Clarke.  211 

Seekers  in  England ;  that  he  was  with  Cromwell  and  the  Long 
Parliament  in  England,  to  whom  he  addressed  his  writings  and 
appeared  so  strong  a  Cromwellian,  that  he  could  not  bear 
those  who  were  for  the  King's  party.     Hence  his  difficulties 
arose  with  Gov.  Coddington  and  others  in  this  state  and  was 
also  connected  with  the  long  dispute  with  the  first  12  who 
purchased  12-13  of  what  he  had  from  the  natives  and  by  his 
joining  the  after  comers  which  became  the  strongest  party, 
a  law  suit  was  kept  up  for  50  years  and  the  Elder  Backus 
says  was  settled  in  Roger  Williams  time,  but  was  not  finished 
until  many  years  after  his  death  by  the  heirs  of  the  first  pur- 
chasers who  had  the  third  time  to  apply  to  England  to  eflFect 
and  finally   settle  by  themselves  in    1711.     I   mention  these 
things  as  hints  to  give  thee  some  idea  of  the  difficult  task 
and  I  apprehend  Roger's  character  if  fully  looked  into  will 
not  appear  better  than  it  now  stands  with  the  Baptist  Society. 

Having  been  desirous  a  true  history  of  our  settlement  and 
progress  might  be  made.  I  long  since  made  some  small  pro- 
gress in  obtaining  some  account  of  facts  and  among  them 
some  such  as  mentioned  appear  not  to  have  been  generally 
known,  and  I,  having  early  probably  like  thyself  conceived 
very  high  notions  respecting  the  character  of  R.  W.,  it  was 
difficult  for  me  to  get  so  far  released  from  them  to  admit 
many  things  I  found  on  inquiry  to  be  realities;  but  at  length, 
I  became  thoroughly  satisfied  that  he  was  a  very  changeable 
man  and  yet  a  strong-minded,  self -conceited,  perserving  man, 
making  an  unusual  character  for  a  man  of  talents  and  educa- 


tion. 


This  off-hand  sketch  is  not  to  discourage  thee,  but  to  pre- 
pare thy  mind  to  receive  proof  of  these  statements,  which 
with  others,  I  shall  be  willing  to  give  thee  information,  as  far 
as  my  time  and  ability  will  admit  of,  if  thou  should  conclude 
to  proceed  with  the  arduous  task  and  feel  wihing  and  with 
thy  usual  candor  proceed  in  the  work. 

I  don't  here  touch  his  treatment  of  the  Quakers  as  that  will 
appear  in  history  from  himself  and  those  opposed. 


212  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke. 

Dr.  Edwards  was  of  opinion  that  Dr.  and  Elder,  (for  lie 
was  both),  John  Clarke,  a  person  of  learning  and  persecuted 
in  Massachusetts,  ought  much  more  to  be  considered  the 
Father  of  this  state  and  especially  of  the  Baptists  in  it  than 
R.  Williams ;  to  this  eti'ect  he  was  heard  to  express  himself 
by  divers  persons. 

He  was  Agent  in  England  and  procured  the  charter  in  which 
Religious  Liberty  is  so  fully  mentioned,  but  that  which  R.  W. 
procured  does  not  contain  a  word  about  it,  tho  Backus  states 
it  to  be  Roger  William's  Charter,  &c. 

I  remain  thy  friend, 

MOSES  BROWN. 

Moses  Brown,  the  writer  of  the  above  letter,  was 
the  son  of  James  and  Hope  (Power)  Brown  and  in 
the  fifth  generation  from  Chad  Brown,  who  was  the 
first  ordained  pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church  in 
Providence.  He  was  born  in  Providence,  Sept.  23, 
1738  and  died  Sept.  6,  1836,— within  17  days  of  98 
years  of  age.  His  grandfather,  James,  was  pastor 
of  the  First  Baptist  Church  from  1726  to  his  death  in 
1732.  Moses  Brown  knew  many  men  and  women 
who  knew  Roger  Williams  well  and  his  knowledge  of 
the  history  of  early  Providence  exceeded  that  of  any 
man  of  his  time.  This  letter  to  Prof.  Knowles,  the 
historian  of  Roger  Williams,  is  from  the  ''Moses 
Brown's  Papers,"  in  the  Rhode  Island  Historical  So- 
ciety, and  so  far  as  the  writer  can  ascertain,  has  never 
been  printed. 

Moses  Brown  was  eminent  as  a  citizen,  as  a  student, 
as  a  philanthropist  and  his  views  as  to  Roger  Wil- 
liams and  his  times  and  of  Dr.  John  Clarke  have  a 
commanding  value,  as  they  express  the  opinions  of 
the  period  just  following  the  life  and  death  of  Mr. 
Williams. 


Concerning  Aquidneck. 

1630-38:  William  Coddington  and  many  others, 
citizens  of  Boston,  in  training  in  civil  government. 

1634-38:  Anne  Hutchinson  School  of  Civil  and 
Religious  Liberty. 

1637-8:  Banishment  of  Coddington,  Clarke  and 
many  others. 

1638,  IMarch:  Compact  of  'Bodie  Politick"  formed 
at  Boston  and  signed  by  23  subscribers ;  William  Cod- 
dington elected  Judge. 

1638,  March:  Aquidneck  bought  of  the  Narra- 
gansetts. 

1638,  May:  Government  of  freemen  organized 
and  a  town,  afterwards  called  Portsmouth,  was  lo- 
cated at  Pocasset  on  the  Island  Aquidneck;  majority 
rule  was  established  and  manhood  suffrage. 

Town  officers  elected;  lands  surveyed,  sold  and 
deeds  recorded ;  houses  built ;  meeting  house,  tavern, 
grist  mills,  stocks  and  whipping  post,  etc.,  etc.,  ordered 
built  by  town ;  military  company  organized ;  highways 
laid  out;  fences  built;  taxes  assessed  and  collected; 
courts  and  jury  trials  established. 

1639,  x'Vpril:  William  Coddington,  John  Clarke 
and  others  founded  the  town  of  Newport  on  Aquid- 
neck, with  officers,  institutions,  laws  and  civil  and 
criminal  procedure  the  same  as  at  Portsmouth. 


1640,  March:  The  two  towns,  Portsmouth  and 
Newport  unite  in  forming  a  Colonial  government, 
with  a  Governor,  Deputy  Governor,  Assistants,  Sec- 
retary and  Treasurer. 

1640:     A  public  school  established  at  Newport. 

The  estimated  population  of  Aquidneck  in  1640 
was  1,000  inhabitants. 

1641,  March :  This  "Bodie  Politick"  was  declared 
a  "Democracie"  or  Popular  Government  under  just 
lawes  with  majority  rule. 

It  was  ordered  "that  none  bee  accounted  a  delin- 
quent for  Doctrine." 

A  Colonial  Seal  was  ordered,  "A  sheafe  of  arrows 
bound  up  in  the  Liess  or  Bond,  this  motto  indented: 
Amor  Vincet  Omnia. 

Tenure  of  lands  on  Aquidneck  affirmed. 

"Libertie  of  Conscience  in  point  of  Doctrine  is 
perpetuated." 

General  Court  of  Elections,  constituting  a  Colonial 
or  General  Assembly  was  held  at  Newport. 

Colonial  Courts,  Judges  and  Trials  by  Jury  were 
established. 

A  commercial  treaty  was  made  with  the  Dutch 
Goernor  of  New  York. 

1644:  The  name  of  the  Colonial  Island  was 
changed  from  Aquidneck  to  Rhode  Island. 


1647:  A  Code  of  Laws  was  enacted  for  the  four 
towns,  Portsmouth,  Newport,  Warwick  and  Provi- 
dence, constituting  the  Province  of  Providence. 

1649,  March:  A  charter  of  incorporation  was 
granted  to  Providence  "in  the  modell  that  hath  been 
latelie  shewn  unto  us  by  our  worthy  Friends  of  the 
Island." 

1651,  November:  Mr.  John  Clarke,  by  the  choice 
of  Newport  and  Portsmouth,  went  to  England  as  their 
representative  to  secure  the  repeal  of  the  Coddington 
Charter. 

1663,  July :  The  Royal  Charter  was  obtained  from 
Charles  II.,  guaranteeing  civil  and  religious  liberty  in 
the  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  and  Providence  Plan- 
tations. This  remarkable  State  paper  was  written 
by  Dr.  John  Clarke,  who  had  spent  twelve  years  in 
London  to  secure  it. 


A  FEW  NEWPORT  ENDORSEMENTS. 
"A  LivELiE  Experiment." 

We  cordially  endorse  Mr.  Bicknell's  conclusions 
and  arguments  as  to  The  Primacy  of  Portsmouth  and 
Newport, — The  Colony  of  Rhode  Island  on  Aquid- 
neck,  in  Narragansett  Bay, — in  the  "Livelie  Experi- 
ment" of  Founding  Civil  and  Religious  Liberty,  under 
the  leadership  of  Dr.  John  Clarke  of  Newport.  We 
pledge  him  our  patronage  and  hearty  support  in  the 
publication  of  The  Story  of  Dr.  John  Clarke,  The 
Founder  of  The  First  Free  Commonwealth  in  the 
World  on  the  Basis  of  "Full  Liberty  in  Religious  Con- 
cernments." 

The  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  the 
State  of  Rhode  Island,  Newport,  May  24,  1915. 

Edward  A.  Sherman,  President. 
George  B.  Austin,  Secretary. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Newport  Historical 
Society  held  May  25,  1915,  the  Society  adopted  the 
above  declaration. 

D.  B.  Fearing,  President. 
Edith  :\lay  Tilley, 

Librarian  and  Clerk. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  William  Ellery  Chapter, 

D.  A.  R.,  held  June  10,  1915,  the  Chapter  voted  to 

support  Mr.  Bicknell  in  his  publication  of  "The  Story 

of  Dr.  John  Clarke." 

Caroline  W.  Lockrow,  Regent. 

Grace  E.  Milne,  Secretary. 

Mr.  John  P.  Sanborn,  Editor  Mercury,  Newport. 

Mr.  John  B.  Svillivan,  Postmaster,  Newport. 

Mr.  Jeremiah  \\'.  Horton,  Ex-]\Iayor,  Newport,  R.  L 

Horatio  R.  Storer.  M.  D.,  Newport,  R.  I. 

Mr.  H.  B.  Wood,  Newport,  R.  L 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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